In Los Angeles, a firearm linked to former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner was discovered at an Airbnb where two men were residing and accused of participating in a robbery of a $1 million watch in Beverly Hills. Federal authorities disclosed on Tuesday that investigators came across the gun on August 10th when they tied the Airbnb rental to a vehicle used in another theft in Beverly Hills. One of the suspects, Jesus Eduardo Padron Rojas, a 19-year-old from Venezuela, informed the police that he handled the gun and left it at the Airbnb. The firearm is registered to Dorner, who infamously killed four individuals in 2013.
The two suspects, Jamer Mauricio Sepulveda Salazar, a 21-year-old Colombian, and Padron, are reportedly part of a group engaged in “crime tourism” and had been staying at the Airbnb. The gun was found in a pillowcase on a bed where a witness stated Padron had been sleeping. Both Sepulveda and Padron were apprehended in their vehicle and charged with armed robbery-related felonies on the same day.
The Justice Department’s spokesperson, Ciaran McEvoy, mentioned that authorities are exploring how Dorner’s gun ended up in the possession of these men. Dorner, who believed he was treated unfairly by the LAPD leading to his termination, committed the murders in 2013 before a final confrontation with law enforcement. Sepulveda and Padron admitted their involvement in the $30,000 Rolex theft on August 5th and the subsequent robbery of the million-dollar watch two days later in Beverly Hills.
During the heist, one suspect brandished a gun at a man dining with his family at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, while the other took the Patek Philippe watch from the victim’s wrist. Sepulveda confessed to surveilling the luxury watch for two weeks before the robbery. The men revealed they had been residing at the Airbnb and possessed images of the stolen watch on their phones. Prosecutors highlighted that members of such crime tourism groups lead transient lifestyles to evade law enforcement, often staying in Airbnbs and cash-operated motels.
Sepulveda and Padron are currently in custody and appeared in court on Tuesday. They are scheduled for arraignment next month at a federal court in downtown Los Angeles.
