Infamous LA officer’s gun found in $1 million watch robbery case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A gun registered to infamous LA officer Christopher Dorner was found at the Airbnb of two men charged in the robbery of a $1 million watch in Beverly Hills, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Investigators discovered the weapon Aug. 10 after they connected the rental to a vehicle involved in another Beverly Hills theft, authorities said. One of the suspects, Jesus Eduardo Padron Rojas, a 19-year-old Venezuelan citizen, told police he had handled the gun and left it in the Airbnb, authorities said. The weapon is registered to Dorner, who killed four people in 2013.

Jamer Mauricio Sepulveda Salazar, a 21-year-old Colombian citizen, and Padron are part of a “crime tourism” group that had been staying at the rental, authorities said. The gun was in a pillowcase on a bed where a witness told police Padron had been sleeping, according to an affidavit.

Sepulveda and Padron were stopped in the vehicle Tuesday and charged with felonies related to armed robbery.

Authorities are investigating how the killer officer’s gun came into the men’s possession, said Justice Department spokesperson Ciaran McEvoy. Dorner, who felt he had been wronged by LAPD when he was fired, killed the daughter of a former LAPD captain and her fiancé as well as two others over nine days in 2013 before dying in a dramatic standoff with law enforcement.

Sepulveda and Padron told investigators that they were involved in the armed robbery of a $30,000 Rolex on Aug. 5 in Beverly Hills and, two days later, the watch with an estimated worth over $1 million, according to the affidavit.

One suspect pointed a gun at a man sitting with his wife and two daughters on the Beverly Wilshire Hotel’s restaurant patio while the other removed the silver Patek Philippe watch from his wrist, the affidavit said. The crew had been surveilling for the luxury watch for two weeks, Sepulveda told police.

The two men told investigators they had been staying at the Airbnb and had photos of the stolen Patek Philippe watch on their phones.

Prosecutors say members of these crime tourism groups “live nomadic lives to avoid arrest by law enforcement, including by residing in Airbnbs and cash-focused motels.”

Sepulveda and Padron are both in custody and made their initial court appearances Tuesday. They will be arraigned next month in federal court in downtown Los Angeles.