(Newser) – It's gruesome: Four people are accused of torturing a California marijuana dispensary owner with a blowtorch and cutting off his penis in an attempt to force him to reveal where he had buried piles of cash in the desert. The defendants mistakenly believed the victim was hiding money and left him for dead on the side of the road, Orange County authorities said in announcing the case yesterday. He survived his injuries. Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, 34, and his wife, Naomi Josette Kevorkian, 33, were arrested in Fresno, a day after the FBI arrested 34-year-old Hossein Nayeri in Prague. Another man, Kyle Shirakawa Handley, 34, was arrested in October of last year.

Prosecutors said the victim was a prosperous medical marijuana dispensary owner who took some of his pot suppliers—including Handley—to Las Vegas last year for an extravagant weekend. After the trip, Handley told friends that the dispensary owner was wealthy, and they hatched a plan to kidnap and rob him, say prosecutors. They were convinced, mistakenly, that he was burying money in the desert outside Palm Springs. At the spot where the men believed the victim had hidden his money, they cut off his penis, poured bleach on him in an effort to destroy any DNA evidence, and dumped him on the side of the road, authorities allege. A woman kidnapped with him managed to get help after the assailants left. (Read more marijuana dispensary stories.)

