MURRIETA, CA — One of two men snared in a scheme involving the theft and resale of high-dollar vehicles throughout Riverside County remained free on bond Friday after pleading guilty to five counts of auto theft, while his alleged cohort’s case was still pending resolution.
Kendall Jamison Clark, 26, of Murrieta admitted the felony charges under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors agreed to drop 25 related counts against Clark.
The plea deal was reached Thursday during a status hearing before Superior Court Judge Judith Clark — no relation to the defendant — who scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 21 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. She permitted Clark to remain free on the $250,000 bond that he posted soon after his arrest in October 2023.
His co-defendant, 48-year-old Gabriel Dean Watters of San Diego, is also free on bail and is slated to appear at the Murrieta courthouse for a felony settlement conference on April 4. Watters is charged with nearly a dozen felony offenses, including embezzlement, auto theft and possession of stolen property, as well as a sentence-enhancing white collar crime allegation.
Prosecutors allege Clark engaged multiple owners of luxury vehicles countywide, who rented the pricey rides to him and never saw them again.
“When the owners tried to report the vehicles as stolen, they learned their names had been taken off the titles,” according to a District Attorney’s Office statement.
“Investigators discovered Watters was buying the stolen cars from Clark at prices substantially lower than their real value,” the agency stated. “Watters would meet … Clark at locations throughout Riverside County, pay him for a group of cars and then take the cars to other locations, including Mexico, where he would attempt to sell them again.”
Among the stolen autos: a 2021 Lamborghini Aventador and 2022 Urus, along with a 2021 Porsche Boxter and a 2022 Tesla Model Y.
Personnel from the county’s Auto-Theft Interdiction Detail, a multi- agency task force that focuses on deterring and apprehending car thieves, caught onto the scheme in September 2023, culminating in Clark’s arrest weeks later.
Court records show he had prior convictions for statutory rape and lewd acts.
Watters was taken into custody on Nov. 27, 2023, at San Diego International Airport. He has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.
