In mid-August, two members of a “South American theft group” were arrested on charges of stealing a $1 million Patek Philippe watch from a man at gunpoint while he was dining with his wife and daughters at the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles, according to federal authorities.
But the diamond-studded watch traveled quickly, across the United States, all the way to Miami. Now, Miami police have arrested three more suspects in connection with the armed robbery of the man at the Beverly Hills hotel, saying they were trying to fence the stolen watch in the Magic City.
Last week, police received a tip that the watch stripped from the man’s wrist in the Aug. 7 robbery “was going to be sold in Miami,” according to an arrest affidavit.
That led detectives to the Miami apartment of Kerwin Campos, a 20-year-old Venezuelan with a prior criminal history who was “trying to sell the watch,” according to an arrest affidavit. A rifle reported stolen in St. Lucie County was also found in Campos’ apartment, police said.
Two other suspects were also arrested last week: Yeison Jose Bolivar, 25, who was implicated not only in the Beverly Hills robbery but also in similar luxury watch thefts in Miami, New Jersey and New York, police said. Bolivar was charged with robbing a $50,000 Patek Philippe watch from a Miami man on April 13 when he was with his child in the 3500 block of Biscayne Boulevard.
Also arrested last week: Venezuelan Yiever A. Capote-Diaz, 26, who was caught after a foot chase with Miami detectives. Capote-Diaz, who police say illegally possessed a handgun, was charged with resisting a police officer with violence and openly carrying a weapon.
Miami police carried out the investigations with Homeland Security Investigations and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. One senior law enforcement official said it remains to be seen how the suspects will be charged in either state or federal court.
“We’re looking to see how to go forward with this case,” the federal agent said, adding that the men arrested in Miami and Los Angeles are suspected of being members of the Venezuelan street gang, Tren de Aragua, which have gained a notorious reputation in several major American cities.
‘Stolen watch capital of the world’
South Florida private investigator David Bolton, who is familiar with the Patek Philippe robbery probe, said that it is not unusual for such pricey watches to be stolen or end up in Miami. “Miami is the stolen watch capital of the world,” Bolton said. “All of the stolen watches are coming to Miami.”
According to federal authorities, here is the back story to the Patek Philippe robbery:
The robbery occurred in the afternoon on Aug. 7, when two men walked up to a man dining with his wife and twin daughters at a Beverly Wilshire restaurant and robbed him at gunpoint, according to a federal complaint affidavit. While one aimed a handgun at the victim, a second took the watch off his wrist.
“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.”
The pair then fled to a car parked on South Rodeo Drive.
Three days after the robbery, the Beverly Hills and Santa Monica police officers carried out a search of an Airbnb where the two 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. He died in a standoff in 2013.
Police in Riverside County, California, detained the two.
In Los Angeles, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Jamer Mauricio Sepulveda Salazar, 21, of Colombia, 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.
According to the affidavit, the suspects were driving a Chevrolet Equinox linked to an earlier robbery in Beverly Hills on Aug. 5, when members of the same South American theft group held up a victim at gunpoint and stole a $30,000 Rolex.
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