Man behind O.C. jailbreak says preliminary plan after escape was ‘straight to LAX, fly out of right here’ – Orange County Register
Hossein Nayeri is testifying in a Superior Court in Santa Ana, California on Monday, March 13, 2023. Nayeri is accused of kidnapping and vehicle theft following his escape from an Orange County jail in 2016. At the time, he was awaiting trial for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, for which he has since been convicted and sentenced to multiple life sentences. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The alleged mastermind behind a daring Orange County prison break in 2016 testified Monday that he had intended to immediately fly to Los Angeles International Airport to leave the country, but ended up being stuck with his two fellow escapees on the run, as his original ride has not surfaced.
Hossein Nayeri took the stand in Orange County Superior Court to admit he took part in the headline-grabbing prison escape, but to deny that he and his fellow escapees kidnapped an independent cab driver amid the ensuing manhunt and held him hostage kept or that he was involved in the theft of a van.
Nayeri – along with fellow inmates Bac Tien Duong and Jonathan Tieu – allegedly spent more than six months cutting through half-inch steel bars to gain access to plumbing tunnels at the Santa Ana Central Male Prison. Nayeri used a smuggled cell phone to record her subsequent escape on January 22, 2016, when the fugitives used the tunnels to get to the prison’s roof and abseiled five stories down the side of the building.
Nayeri said an accomplice, whose name he did not give, was to pick him up near the prison.
“My plan was right after LAX, get out of here,” Nayeri testified. “With hand luggage, passport in hand, ticket already bought, straight to Istanbul, Turkey.”
After five or six hours of desperate, unanswered calls to his unnamed accomplice, Nayeri said he decided to join Duong and Tieu, who a friend of Duong’s was waiting to pick them up a few blocks from the jail.
“At that point, I had no choice but to join in for a minute to at least figure out the next step,” Nayeri said.
Over the next few hours, Nayeri testified, Duong’s friend, another unnamed driver and then a relative of Duong’s took the fugitives to a residence in Westminster, a Vietnamese cafe and several other homes. At one point, the three men went with Duong’s relatives to find a car to buy, Nayeri testified. At another point, they dropped Tieu off at friends’, only to be surprised by the same people who later brought him back, with Tieu explaining that his friends felt there was “too much heat”.
Knowing prison officials would soon discover they were missing, Nayeri said Duong decided to call Long Ma, an independent, unlicensed taxi driver who advertised in Vietnamese-language newspapers.
Prosecutors have described Ma as an unsuspecting, unwilling participant who helped the fugitives evade capture amid a week-long manhunt. Ma testified that Duong pointed a gun at him and spent days in fear because he could not leave the fugitives alone as they traveled from Orange County to Rosemead and then to the Bay Area. Ma also claimed Duong ultimately stopped Nayeri from killing him and the driver convinced Duong to travel back to Orange County to turn himself in a day before the manhunt ended and Nayeri and Tieu were arrested in San Francisco .
While the driver testified that he had never met Duong prior to the night he picked up the fugitives, Nayeri claimed the driver and Duong shared a history.
“It was obvious from their interaction,” Nayeri testified. “Warm handshake, kiss on the cheek. After making the first deal, we hugged. It was a warm relationship.”
“Negotiations started in the car,” Nayeri added. “I don’t understand Vietnamese, but it was an intense conversation… We agreed on $500 for the (first) night and still wanted to negotiate a longer-term deal.”
“You heard a statement from Ma that he was arrested at gunpoint – did anyone have a gun?” asked Michael Goldfeder, Nayeri’s attorney.
“No, nobody had a gun,” Nayeri said.
After the first night at a Rosemead motel, Nayeri said the fugitives were still not sure if Ma was “going out” long-term and decided to look for another vehicle. Earlier Monday, a Los Angeles man described how Duong met with him to test drive a van he was selling and then stole the vehicle.
Nayeri said he was already frustrated with Duong, who Nayeri described as constantly wanting to “party and get girls” and couldn’t keep his alcohol down. Nayeri testified that his frustration boiled over when he learned Duong had stolen the van.
“The van was the drop that broke the camel’s back,” Nayeri said. “We argued. He got a little gung-ho and started taunting me a bit. I hit him once. He fell.”
The video shown to the jury, which Nayeri said was taken shortly after the fight, caught Nayeri saying to Duong, “You consider me your true brother, did I save your life?” and Duong replied: “You saved my life.”
“I wanted to remind him that I’m not his enemy,” Nayeri testified. “You took care of me. I shouldn’t have been there in the first place. So I didn’t want him to feel unappreciated.”
Testimony ended for the day before Nayeri was asked about the fugitives’ journey to the Bay Area or their eventual break with Duong and Ma and their eventual capture. Nayeri is expected to return to the stands on Tuesday morning.
Duong had previously been convicted for his role in the prison escape. Tieu is tried separately
Since the escape, Nayeri has been convicted of kidnapping and brutally torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, which landed him in prison in the first place. Nayeri is already serving multiple life sentences for this case, regardless of the outcome of the prison escape trial.
