Man sentenced for kidnap and torture

SANTA ANA — A marijuana grower convicted of kidnapping, torturing and mutilating a pot dispensary owner he mistakenly thought had buried $1 million in the California desert was sentenced Friday to two consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett also tacked on two consecutive terms of seven years to life for Kyle Shirakawa Handley, City News Service reported.

The 38-year-old was convicted in January of an assault that included burning the man with a blowtorch, shocking him with a Taser, splashing him with bleach and cutting off his penis.

Handley, of Fountain Valley, is one of three men who were charged with kidnapping the Newport Beach marijuana dispensary owner, who they believed had hidden profits from his cash-based pot business in the Mojave Desert, prosecutors said.

On Oct. 2, 2012, the kidnappers took the man and his roommate's girlfriend from their Newport Beach home, drove them to the desert and then tortured the man to make him reveal where he had buried money, prosecutors said.

The victim described how the torture has left permanent physical and emotional scars.

He said in a statement read to the court before the sentencing that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has ongoing issues with "socializing and trusting people, being in crowds and sleeping. My family was emotionally distraught seeing that I was nearly tortured to death, and they themselves share in many of the anxieties and PTSD that plague me today."

At trial the dispensary owner testified that the men continued to torture him even though he told them he hadn't buried any cash. Finally, after being convinced he had no money, the kidnappers cut off his penis and threw it from the window of the getaway van. Authorities never found it.