A week after two assailants stole a $1 million watch off the wrist of a man dining at The BLVD restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel, two alleged members of a “crime tourism” group have been charged in a federal court complaint, according to an Aug. 14 release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Jamer Mauricio Sepulveda Salazar, 21, of Colombia, was charged with one count of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act) and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Jesus Eduardo Padron Rojas, 19, of Venezuela, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery.
The robbery occurred in the afternoon on Aug. 7, when two suspects walked up to a man dining with his wife and twin daughters and robbed him at gunpoint, according to the complaint affidavit. While one suspect chambered a bullet and aimed the gun at the victim, a second took the watch off the victim’s wrist. The pair then fled to a car parked on South Rodeo Drive and drove west on Olympic Boulevard outside of city limits.
“The theft occurred within seconds,” according to the affidavit. “Fearing for his family’s lives, [the victim] let [the suspect] take the watch without a struggle.”
Because the suspects entered the car on the passenger side, investigators initially believed a third suspect was driving. After reviewing CCTV footage, police determined that one of the suspects drove the car, according to the affidavit.
Three days after the robbery, Beverly Hills Police Department and Santa Monica Police Department officers executed a search warrant at an Airbnb on Browning Boulevard, in Los Angeles, where the suspects were believed to have been staying. During the search, they found a handgun registered to Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who killed four people while running from the law in 2013.
Public Information Officer Ciaran McEvoy from the U.S. Attorney’s Office told the Courier that investigators are still trying to determine how the suspects obtained Dorner’s gun.
In addition to the gun, the search revealed clothing that appeared to match that worn by the robbers.
Salazar and Rojas were detained by police in Riverside County later that evening. According to the affidavit, the suspects were driving a Chevrolet Equinox linked to an earlier robbery on Aug. 5 in the 400 block of Doheny Road in Beverly Hills when members of the same “South American Theft Group” held up a victim at gunpoint and stole a $30,000 Rolex.
If convicted on all counts, Sepulveda could face life in prison, and Padron could get 20 years.
