DOJ: Christopher Dorner’s gun found in Airbnb for ‘crime tourists’ in LA

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — During a police investigation into the armed robbery of a $1 million watch by “crime tourists” this month, authorities said they found a mysterious piece of evidence in the gang's Airbnb: a gun registered to a notorious former Los Angeles police officer whose 2013 killing spree against police officers and their families sparked one of the largest manhunts in California history.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Christopher Dorner's gun was found while police were investigating two South Americans who were accused of stealing a man's watch at gunpoint while he was dining on the terrace of a restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

The gang had been watching the victim – and his watch – for two weeks and carried out another robbery in Beverly Hills while she was staying at an Airbnb in Los Angeles, prosecutors said. While searching the Airbnb, officers found the gun registered to Dorner, who the U.S. Justice Department said killed four people before committing suicide in 2013.

Jamer Mauricio Sepulveda Salazar, 21, of Colombia, is charged with one count of obstruction of public commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act) and one count of possession of a weapon in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Jesus Eduardo Padron Rojas, 19, of Venezuela, is charged with conspiracy to commit robbery under the Hobbs Act, prosecutors said.

The robbery occurred around 6:40 p.m. on Aug. 7 as the victim was sitting with his wife and 5-year-old twin daughters on the patio of The Blvd restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, near Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, Homeland Security Task Force officer Thomas Ferguson wrote in court documents obtained by Patch.

One suspect approached the group, pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the victim and pulled back the gun's slide to load a bullet. While holding the victim at gunpoint and yelling in Spanish, the second suspect approached the man and took the silver Patek Philippe Emerald Nautilus watch from his wrist, prosecutors said.

The victim, a British national and resident of the United Arab Emirates who was a guest at the hotel, said he feared for his life and that of his family and gave up the watch to the suspect without a fight, court documents show.

The suspects fled the scene on Rodeo Drive and eventually got into a blue Toyota Corolla. Sepulveda acted as the getaway driver, prosecutors said.

The car was “cold tagged” – with a license plate that was not registered to the vehicle. This often suggests the plate was stolen and used to cover up crimes and avoid police attention, court documents show.

Three days later, authorities executed a search warrant for an Airbnb on Browning Boulevard in Los Angeles where the South American gang of thieves had been staying: According to court documents, surveillance camera footage showed that the group had left the previous evening.

During the search, officers found a .45-caliber Glock 21 pistol registered to Dorner in a bedroom, court records show. Authorities have not provided information on how they believe the suspects came into possession of the weapon.

Dorner's rampage

The mysterious discovery of Dorner's gun reopens old wounds for the Los Angeles Police Department and law enforcement agencies across the Southland.

In February 2013, Dorner, a disgruntled former LAPD officer, went on a killing spree against police officers and their families, sparking one of the largest manhunts in California history. During the manhunt, which lasted several days and gripped Southland, police officers and civilians were shot and killed. Dorner eventually died in a fierce gun battle in the San Bernardino Mountains, where he had barricaded himself as police surrounded him.

His deadly rampage began with an 11,000-word manifesto he sent to CNN, in which he listed his targets by name and declared that he would wage “unconventional and asymmetrical war” on the LAPD.

This was followed shortly thereafter by the shooting of 28-year-old Monica Quan and her fiancé, 27-year-old Keith Lawrence, outside Quan's home in Irvine on February 3, 2013. She was the daughter of former LAPD Captain Randal Quan, who was named as a target in Dorner's manifesto.

Police warned the public to be on guard against the armed and dangerous Dorner and deployed police units to protect the officers and families addressed in the manifesto.

Three days later, Dorner shot and killed two LAPD officers working as security detail for a target in Corona. Moments later, he ambushed two Riverside Police Department officers who were stopped at a red light in their patrol car, killing Beaumont Police Officer Michael Crain.

That night, he fled to San Diego, where he attempted to hijack a boat before heading into the San Bernardino Mountains, leading to school closures and widespread panic as police fanned out across snow-capped Big Bear Mountain in search of Dorner.

The search lasted several days and authorities offered a $1 million reward for information leading to Dorner's capture.

While the community was in turmoil, LAPD officers mistakenly shot and killed a mother and daughter who were delivering newspapers in a Torrance neighborhood where one of Dorner's LAPD targets lived.

A few days later, on February 12, officers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department responding to a report of a carjacking were shot by Dorner. Detective Jeremiah MacKay later died of his injuries.

Police closed in on Dorner as he barricaded himself in an abandoned cabin in Angelus Oaks. They fired gas canisters into the cabin, starting a fire. Inside the burning cabin, surrounded by police, Dorner shot himself in the head.

The case sparked years of legal wrangling and investigations into LAPD use of force. How Dorner's gun was linked to a spectacular crime wave in 2024 is still under investigation. It's the latest twist in a case that still haunts the LAPD.

Stopped on the way to Miami

On the same day that Los Angeles County authorities raided the robbers' Airbnb, officers conducted a traffic stop on a Chevrolet Equinox more than 200 miles east in Blythe and identified Sepulveda and Padron in the vehicle, according to court documents.

Police recovered three cell phones from the vehicle, including one believed to belong to Sepulveda and Padron. Sepulveda was wearing the same shirt he wore the day of the Beverly Wilshire robbery when he was caught on surveillance camera driving the getaway car, court documents show.

The SUV is linked to another armed robbery on Aug. 5 on Doheny Road, north of Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, in which a Rolex valued at $30,000 was stolen, authorities said.

According to court documents, Sepulveda later admitted to police that when their vehicle was stopped in Blythe, the gang was on its way to Miami to meet a co-conspirator and collect the money for the stolen Patek Phillipe watch.

He also admitted to committing the Rolex robbery and receiving $1,500 from a co-conspirator for the watch. He also admitted to being the getaway driver in the Beverly Wilshire robbery and said the crew conducted surveillance for two weeks, looking for the Patek Phillipe watch, according to court documents.

Police searched the phones and found photos and videos of Sepulveda holding the Patek Phillipe watch, screenshots of a BHPD press release about the robbery and pictures of him holding various weapons, according to court documents.

In addition, one of the phones contained a screenshot of an Instagram story showing the Patek Phillipe watch with the text “these are the 2 watches we are looking for, they are valued at $1.3 million,” according to court documents.

Southland authorities have recently noticed a rise in what they call “crime tourism,” in which foreigners often come to the U.S. fraudulently and lead a nomadic lifestyle to avoid arrest while committing robberies. The gangs often use fake IDs and aliases, according to court documents.

If convicted on all counts, Sepulveda faces the statutory maximum sentence of life in a federal prison, while Padron faces up to 20 years in prison.

The investigation is being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and the Beverly Hills and Blythe police departments.

Paige Austin contributed to this report.