ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
Case # 17HF0244
Date: February 23, 2017
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Two men were charged yesterday with kidnapping a man during a drug deal in Newport Beach and attempting to extort $130,000 from the victim’s family. Steele Malone Burnside, 28, Anaheim, and Nicholas Andres Hernandez, 29, Murrieta, are each charged with one felony count of kidnapping for ransom and one felony count of attempted extortion by threat. Hernandez faces sentencing enhancements for prior felony convictions for burglary and filing a false claim in 2009 in Riverside, possession and sale of a controlled substance in 2009 in Riverside, possession of a controlled substance in 2014 in Orange County, and not remaining free for more than five years of both prison custody and the commission of the above felony offenses. Continue reading