LOS ANGELES — Two men pleaded guilty to federal counts Wednesday in a brazen holdup at a restaurant patio in Beverly Hills, California, last spring in which a man had a gun pointed to his head while his $500,000 watch was stolen.
Another patron at the upscale Il Pastaio was shot in the leg during a struggle for the gun in the March 4 afternoon robbery, federal prosecutors said.
The men, Malik Lamont Powell, 21, and Khai McGhee, 18, pleaded guilty to two robbery-related counts and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
A third man, Marquise Anthony Gardon, 41, previously pleaded guilty. All three are documented members of the Rollin’ 30s Crips gang, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said.
The attorney representing McGhee declined to comment Wednesday night, and an attorney representing Powell did not immediately reply to an email.
The men were driving around looking to commit an armed robbery and decided to rob the victim as he sat on the outside patio while wearing a Richard Mille watch, according to court documents.
Il Pastaio is an Italian restaurant in the heart of Beverly Hills with a reputation as a celebrity hot spot.
There was a struggle, and the Glock 9 mm handgun went off twice. The men fled with the luxury watch and left the handgun behind, officials said.
The victim told NBC Los Angeles at the time that the robbers demanded the watch and pointed the gun at his head. Another man, who was at a table 10 yards away when the robbery occurred and gunfire erupted, said his girlfriend was grazed in the leg by a bullet.
The two men who pleaded guilty Wednesday face up to 20 years for the robbery counts and up to life for the firearm count when they are sentenced in February, prosecutors said. Gardon has not yet been sentenced.