Hailey Angelique Rangel, a 22-year-old woman from Lake Elsinore, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last Friday. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for her involvement in a fatal car-to-car shooting of Nicholas Alistair Neaimi-Pour, a 19-year-old Irvine resident, two years ago.
Co-defendant Jayden Browndorf, 23, of Irvine, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was also sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, back on Nov. 21.
Another co-defendant, Noah Farmer, 24, of Tustin, is scheduled for his own trial on Feb. 20. Farmer is charged with murder and conspiracy with a special circumstances allegation of lying in wait with sentencing enhancements for the discharge of a gun causing death and the personal use of a gun. He faces at least life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted at trial but he is also eligible for the death penalty.
All three of the defendants were accused of killing Neaimi-Pour just before 12:40 p.m., on Aug. 3, 2023, at Athel Avenue and Sego Street.
Farmer allegedly armed himself before Browndorf and Rangel drove two vehicles to a predetermined area with Farmer in one of the cars, according to allegations made in the criminal complaint, which stated that:
- Browndorf lured the victim to a predetermined location under the false pretense of meeting with her alone
- Rangel drove Farmer to a location staged a short distance away where the victim could not see them.
- Browndorf drove to a predetermined location to meet with the victim and then parked on the wrong side of the street.
- Rangel drove Farmer, who was armed, to that predetermined location to commit the crime once they were informed the victim was inside Browndorf’s vehicle.
Neaimi-Pour got into the passenger seat of a black Mercedes-Benz that pulled along the east curb of Athel Avenue just before a Honda Civic pulled alongside the Mercedes-Benz, according to the Irvine police. Farmer then got out of the Honda and he shot the victim, according to the police.
Neaimi-Pour was able to get out of the Mercedes but he then collapsed. A resident tried to help him before first responders arrived, according to the police.
Irvine Police Department detectives identified Rangel as the driver of the white Honda Civic the two other suspects were in before the shooting, according to the police.
Police officers were able to recover both vehicles involved in the shooting.
Farmer, as part of a plea deal, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery on Sept. 29, 2021, and he was sentenced to two years in prison. The plea deal included a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a firearm, but that was dismissed.
Farmer also has another pending case of assault and battery, both misdemeanors, which occurred on June 14, 2021. Farmer was also charged with a felony count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury for an incident on Feb. 9, 2021.
Brownsdorf’s defense attorney said in court papers in 2023 while seeking bail that she “arranged with Nick to meet him near her house in Irvine in her father’s Mercedes so that her boyfriend Noah could rob Nicholas of fentanyl tablets due to Nick’s drug debt to Noah.”
Brownsdorf said the point was to frighten the victim so Farmer could “get his stuff,” according to her attorney.
Her attorney also said that Brownsdorf told investigators she did not plan to kill the victim or was aware her boyfriend intended to do it.
Farmer is not much to look at. It is a mystery how he embroiled two women in his alleged murder scheme.