The Long and Sordid Rap Sheets of OC's Escaped Prisoners

By PAUL ANDERSON

One man is charged with murder and attempted murder, but his attorney describes him as “just a kid... more of a follower.”

Another is a convicted cocaine dealer and burglar in custody on suspicion of attempted murder, and the third is the alleged mastermind of the sexual mutilation of a marijuana dispensary owner -- and he has escaped from authorities once before.

Hossein Nayeri, 37, of Newport Beach; Jonathan Tieu, 20, of Fountain Valley; and Bac Duong, 43, of Santa Ana, are the focus of a continuing local and federal manhunt today following their well-orchestrated escape from the Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana before sunrise Friday, 16 hours before guards knew they were gone.

Nayeri was the only one making headlines before Friday’s jailbreak. He was the last defendant rounded up in the bizarre kidnapping, torture and castration of a marijuana dispensary owner in October 2012.

Nayeri was extradited from the Czech Republic and arrived in Orange County to face charges in September 2014. He is charged along with Kyle Shirakawa Handley, 37, Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, 36, and Naomi Josette Rhodus, 35, in the abduction of the dispensary owner and his roommate’s girlfriend in Newport Beach.

Nayeri fled to Iran, where he has family, but authorities could not get to him due to a lack of extradition agreements with the with the country, prosecutors said. Investigators used a ruse to lure him to the Czech Republic, which is a more cooperative country for extraditions, Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said.

Authorities grabbed Nayeri as he was changing flights in Prague on his way to Spain to visit family, Murphy said.

The marijuana dispensary owner’s attackers mistakenly thought he had a huge stash of cash buried in the Mojave Desert, where the victim was taken and tortured near Victorville, Murphy contends.

The victim took several marijuana growers, including Handley, on an all- expenses-paid weekend to Las Vegas in 2012, prompting Handley to inform Nayeri and Kevorkian that the victim was rich, Murphy said.

The alleged abduction plan nearly fell apart when a week before the victim was kidnapped, Nayeri committed a routine traffic violation but refused to pull over and led Newport Beach police on a high-speed chase, according to Murphy.

Nayeri was on probation for a vehicular manslaughter conviction out of Fresno, stemming from a drunken driving crash that killed his best friend, Murphy said. Nayeri crashed the car in the high-speed chase, but still eluded authorities, and the kidnapping went ahead as planned.

The dispensary owner was tortured with a blow torch and beaten before his penis was severed and bleach poured on him to try to destroy DNA evidence, Murphy said. The victim eventually recovered.

Attorney Michael Molfetta, who represents Kevorkian, ripped sheriff’s officials, saying they should have kept a more watchful eye on Nayeri.

“If anyone is to be red-flagged, a let’s-keep-an-eye-out-for-this-guy, it’s Nayeri,” Molfetta said. “I don’t understand how the Nayeris go relatively unsupervised in jail, never mind foster such a plan, but to get such a big jump -- it doesn’t make sense to me.”

Tieu was arrested with multiple defendants in what prosecutors alleged was a gang-related fatal shooting outside a Garden Grove pool hall on March 20, 2011, according to his attorney, David Swanson, who argued in his client’s first trial that the defendant was just along with a group and did not know there would be a shooting.

“He had nothing to do with it. He wasn’t the shooter and didn’t know they would shoot,” Swanson said.

The attorney’s argument was persuasive enough to some jurors that the panel deadlocked and a mistrial was declared. Tieu was scheduled to be retried for the shooting, for the murder of Scottie Bui and attempted murder of Roger James.

Swanson said there was a confrontation outside the pool hall involving two groups, but it was unclear if they were opposing gangs. One group left, followed by another group in cars, the attorney said.

“A person shot from the car into the other one and hit two people, one dying and the other injured,” Swanson said. “The person they think did the shooting, the actual shooter may have fled the country and was in Vietnam right now.”

Swanson said he was “shocked” when he heard the news of Tieu’s escape.

“He’s really just a kid,” Swanson said. “I’m completely certain he was not the ringleader of that thing. He’s just a kid who’s a follower.”

Duong has a long criminal history dating back to a residential burglary conviction on Sept. 11, 1995, in San Diego County, according to court records.

Duong pleaded guilty June 28, 2007, to two misdemeanor counts of second- degree burglary and receiving stolen property and was sentenced to two years. He was originally charged with felonies but had them reduced to misdemeanors.

In February of 2008, he pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to sell and other drug charges, along with possession of a firearm by a felon and leading police on a chase, according to court records. He was sentenced to six years in prison for that case.

Duong pleaded guilty again in May 2011 to possession of cocaine with intent to sell as well as the sale or transport of a controlled substance, both felonies, and was sentenced to three years in prison, according to court records.

Duong was charged with a DUI in March of 2014 and when he failed to complete a six-month alcohol program, his probation was revoked in December.

Duong was facing charges of possession of a firearm by a felon, theft with a prior felony conviction of driving or taking of a vehicle, and, in a separate case, was charged with attempted murder in November of last year, according to court records.

Duong pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charge Jan. 15, his last time in court. Duong is accused of trying to kill a man and assaulting him with a firearm, as well as firing a gun at residence on Highland Street in Santa Ana, according to court records.

City News Service