San Diego Man With Shady Past Linked To Vast Luxury Car Scheme

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A Riverside County man previously charged with more than a dozen felonies in connection with an alleged multi-million-dollar luxury vehicle scheme is now facing more charges after prosecutors uncovered a shady business associate from San Diego and more victims, according to an announcement Friday from the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

Kendall Jamison Clark, 25, of Murrieta was facing 18 felony charges but the number increased to 30 after the discovery and recovery of more stolen cars, including a 2021 Porsche Boxter, 2021 Lamborghini Aventador, 2022 Tesla Model Y, and a 2022 Lamborghini Urus, the DA's office reported.

Investigators from the Riverside Auto-Theft Interdiction Detail began an investigation into the thefts in September. Investigators learned Clark filled out rental paperwork for the cars, paid for a one-week lease, picked them up from a couple in Lake Mathews, but never returned them, according to the DA's office.

Clark absconded with the high-value rides and sold the hot cars to dealers across the country by forging or "washing" the registration titles, according to the DA. The vehicles included a 2022 Chevrolet Corvette, 2015 Lamborghini Huracán, 2021 Jeep Wrangler, 2021 Porsche Cayenne, 2017 BMW i8 and 2020 Lamborghini Urus.

Clark was released from custody on $250,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at Murrieta's Southwest Justice Center for a Dec. 14 felony settlement conference. He faces multiple counts of vehicle theft and embezzlement in an amended complaint, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Now, a second person has been charged in the Riverside County case. Gabriel Dean Watters, 47, of San Diego faces 12 felony charges, including embezzlement, car theft, and buying/receiving stolen vehicles in connection with the alleged scheme.

Watters was nabbed after investigators discovered he was buying stolen cars from Clark at prices well below market value, according to the DA's office.

Watters would meet up with Clark at spots throughout Riverside County, pay him for a group of cars, and then take the stolen rides to other locations, including Mexico, where he would attempt to sell them, the DA's office alleged.

Watters was arrested Nov. 27 at San Diego International Airport as he was attempting to fly to San Francisco. He’s being held on $1 million bail at Murrieta's Southwest Detention Center and is due to appear for a felony settlement conference and bail review hearing Dec. 8. He pleaded not guilty to all charges Nov. 30.

It's not Watters' first run-in with law enforcement. He was convicted by a federal jury on November 8, 2010, of obstruction of justice and submitting a fraudulent receipt purporting to show the purchase of vehicles he had transported from Louisiana to California in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The original indictment in the case charged that following Hurricane Katrina, Watters traveled to the Gulf Coast area and stole up to 30 heavily flood-damaged vehicles that he then hauled back to California and sold. At the time, Watters owned a business called Blackwell’s Towing, according to federal authorities.

During his trial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the vehicle theft portion of the case but agreed that Watters had obstructed justice by producing the false receipt. U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez characterized Watters as someone who saw Hurricane Katrina as "an opportunity to make a buck." Mendez sentenced the then-34-year-old Watters to three years and one month in prison, more than twice the term urged by defense attorney Mark Reichel.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento's Eastern District of California and was a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the California Highway Patrol.

Watters also made headlines in January 2021 when he apologized, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, for hosting a New Year's Eve "super-spreader" bash at a Granite Bay, Calif., mansion once owned by comedian Eddie Murphy.

Photos of hundreds of maskless partygoers surfaced on social media, according to a report from CBS News. Public backlash prompted a statement from Watters' attorney, which read, "Mr. Watters had invited close friends to a planned small gathering at the very large house for New Year's Eve. The notoriety of the house caused those invited to broadcast the party and invitation across social media. He never intended for this event to be this big and he apologizes for how things got out of hand."

Watters lived in the mansion at the time of the party, according to the CBS report.