Thieves in the Night On July 13, 2009, high school students Alexis
Neiers, Nick Prugo, Diana Tamayo, and Rachel Lee parked their cars outside a black house in the
Hollywood Hills. According to Neiers, who hadn't attended one of these stings before, her peers had
been successfully burglarizing the homes of A-list Hollywood celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lindsay
Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Audrina Patridge, and others. So, whose house were they parked in front
of? None other than Orlando Bloom from Pirates in the Caribbean, who was out of town at the time.
The four teenagers walked up to the black mansion and covered their faces
to conceal their identities from security cameras. Then, Lee cut a hole in the fence,
big enough for them to squeeze through. They walked around the house,
checking doors and windows for a way to get in. Finally, they found an unlocked door by
the pool. They went into Bloom's house and stole more than $500,000 worth of luxury items. Neiers,
horrified and afraid, screamed and ran outside. She was also pretty drunk… as the story goes.
Bling Ring Tabloids dubbed their group 'The
Bling Ring,' a burglary team of seven teenagers infamous for breaking into the homes of the rich
and famous. But these burglaries weren't totally motivated by money or jealousy. In fact, members
of the Bling Ring idolized these celebrities so much that they wanted to dress and be just
like them. The closest they could get to becoming their idols was to steal their treasured items.
The Bling Ring targeted celebrities who dominated the tabloids and were known to live lavish lives.
Most of their targets were women since the Bling Ring's founding members loved women's fashion.
Rachel Lee, their leader, referred to the burglaries as "going shopping."
They found their targets' homes through Google Maps and celebrityaddressaerial.com.
The teens figured out their target's schedules using Facebook, Twitter,
and tabloids. More importantly, they knew when their targets were out of town.
Finer Things The Bling Ring had a taste for the finer things–
Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana—you name it. Do you know who else had a taste for the finer
things? Paris Hilton. The Bling Ring also thought she was "dumb,' thus making for the perfect first
victim. It turns out they were right. They found a key to her front door in the most obvious place:
under a doormat. To add insult to injury, they didn't even need the key because Hilton left
the door unlocked. They strolled through the front door and stole designer bras,
dresses, alcohol, and money. However, they were smart enough to steal just enough that Hilton
wouldn't notice—and she didn't. The Bling Ring burglarized Hilton's home five separate times,
making sure not to get too greedy. However, greed eventually got the best of them when they made
off with $2 Million worth of jewelry and cash. Apparently, that was enough for Hilton to notice.
Targets Also known as
the Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch, the Bling Ring organized the burglaries of
several celebrities in Calabasas, California, one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country.
Lee and Prugo, the head honchos, were primarily motivated by their love for fashion and media.
Rachel Lee grew up in Calabasas with her mother. She was expelled from the
public high school and attended an alternative high school called
Indian Hills on a creative arts scholarship. She was obsessed with reality television and
designer brands and longed to have the luxury items that her favorite reality stars owned.
Nick Prugo was also expelled from Calabasas High School and transferred to Indian Hills.
He was a "shy guy," and Lee quickly took him under her wing. Prugo began partying
and taking drugs in Lee's social circle, stealing from his parents to support his
lifestyle. This segued into stealing from peers and, finally, from celebrities. They
robbed their first home together during the summer after tenth grade and discovered $8,000
cash under the homeowner's bed. They split the money and went shopping on Rodeo Drive.
Though he was reluctant to burglarize other homes, Prugo didn't want to risk losing Lee's friendship.
Alexis Neiers was another member of Lee's social circle at Indian Hills.
But she claims she was only involved in one Bling Ring burglary–the one at Orlando Bloom's house.
She initially denied any wrongdoing, stating that police never found any stolen items in
her possession. However, it came out later that Neiers and her two sisters had several stolen
items in their wardrobe. Security cameras at Bloom's house even caught her in the act.
She didn't have a squeaky clean past either and struggled with addiction.
Diana Tamayo was student body president at Indian Hills in 2008. She showed great promise,
was awarded scholarships, and even won "best smile." However,
police later discovered that almost all of her personal inventory consisted of
stolen items. Her small stature was helpful to the Bling Ring crime spree. In one case,
she crawled through a dog door to access a house. She was also an undocumented
immigrant and was threatened with deportation if she failed to cooperate with the police.
Courtney Ames was the stepdaughter of famous boxer Randy Shields. Unlike the others,
Ames still attended Calabasas High School and knew Lee for a long time. Through Ames,
Lee met the next two members of the Bling Ring:
Johnny Ajar was Ames's boyfriend, and he used his past criminal knowledge to
appraise and resell stolen items. Ajar had a tough upbringing, being raised in housing
projects as the son of a drug-addicted mother and criminal father. Before his involvement,
Ajar had already spent two years in federal prison for drug trafficking.
Roy Lopez Jr. worked with Ajar at a restaurant in Calabasas. The Bling
Ring recruited him to resell the stolen items, but he participated in at least one burglary.
Surprisingly, many of the members came from wealthy families. Neiers was a rising
TV personality, Prugo's parents were in the film industry, and Tamayo drove a luxury car.
Prugo's father worked at IM Global as the foreign sales agent for Paranormal Activity. Neiers's
father was the director of photography on Friends, and her mother was a Playboy model in the 1980s.
Stealing Spree Paris Hilton was the Bling
Ring's first and most frequent target, but she certainly wasn't their only. On the night of the
2009 Academy Awards, the Bling Ring snuck into Audrina Patridge's home in the Hollywood Hills
through an unlocked door. They stole her jewelry, passport, jeans, and laptop, amounting to $43,000
worth of stuff. Patridge uploaded the surveillance video online, but the
burglaries continued. The video ran on TMZ and local LA news stations, yet no one came forward.
Rachel Bilson's home was robbed at least three times in the spring of
2009. Between $130,000 and $300,000 worth of items were taken during this time,
and most were sold on the Venice Beach Boardwalk.
The Bling Ring targeted Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr because Lee wanted Kerr's
lingerie collection. The trespassers got in by cutting a hole in the chain-link fence.
They stole designer clothing, vintage Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton luggage,
and collector's art – valued at approximately $500,000. A surveillance video from that night
shows four teens in hoodies walking up to Bloom and Kerr's home while covering their faces.
Lee also idolized Megan Fox's style, so the Bling ring targeted her home with Brian Austin Green.
However, the Ring's crowning achievement, and ultimate downfall, came after breaking
into Lindsey Lohan's house. In August 2009, Lee moved in with her father in Las Vegas.
However, she couldn't resist coming home for one last job—Lindsey Lohan's house. She and the
rest of the Bling Ring stole $130,000 worth of stuff from Lohan's home in the Hollywood Hills.
The team continued to conduct surveillance on others, including Miley Cyrus,
Zac Efron, Hilary Duff, and Vanessa Hudgens, hoping to invade their homes later on.
Coincidence Coincidentally,
E! was filming a reality show about Neiers's family when the robberies occurred. The world
discovered that Alexis participated in The Bling Ring through the show. The cameras
rolled when the LAPD showed up at her home on October 22, 2009, with a search warrant and
discovered Rachel Bilson's handbag and Lindsay Lohan's necklace in Neiers's possession. She
originally denied stealing the items, saying that she had a receipt, but later pleaded no contest.
Confessions The final
heist of Lindsay Lohan's home marked the beginning of the end.
The LAPD released the surveillance footage of the Bling Ring stealing from Lohan's home and
matched the faces to those of the burglars at other homes in the Hollywood Hills.
Tips poured in from people claiming to know the identities of the assailants.
Police, however, were already following leads from someone who
overheard Prugo and Lee bragging about their exploits on a drunken night out.
Prugo, riddled with guilt and anxiety, eventually confessed before police offered him a plea deal—a
huge no-no when you're ready to give a confession. He even admitted to crimes that
the police weren't even aware of, feeling that it was the "right thing to do." When
asked why he committed these burglaries, Prugo hardly had an answer, simply stating that he
followed Lee out of some kind of sisterly love. Police executed search warrants, made arrests,
and took down every member of the Bling Ring one by one. It was a high-profile story,
and every tabloid, magazine, and newspaper wanted a piece of the pie.
Slaps on the Wrist In October 2011, Lee pleaded
no contest to the burglary of Audrina Patridge's home and was sentenced to four years in prison.
After 1 year and 4 months, she got out on parole. Prugo pleaded no contest to the burglaries of
Audrina Patridge and Lindsay Lohan and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Ajar, who had previous drug-related run-ins with the law, was sentenced to three years in prison.
He was released less than a year after sentencing.
Tamayo pleaded no contest to the burglary of Lohan's home and was sentenced to three years
of probation and 60 days of community service. Police apparently threatened
her family with deportation and six years of jail time had she pleaded not guilty.
Ames was sentenced to three years probation and two months of community service. Several other
charges were dismissed on the ethics advice of Detective Brett Goodkin,
the lead investigator on the case.
Neiers pleaded no contest to the burglary of Orlando Bloom's home,
after learning that he was willing to testify against her. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail
with three years of probation and a $600,000 restitution to Bloom.
Coincidentally, Neiers and Lohan were actually in adjacent jail cells at Century Regional Detention
Facility but never spoke to one another. Sadly, Neiers was arrested again in 2010
for drug possession. Although this time, she went to a luxury rehab facility. After her arrest on
national TV and very public trial, Neiers remained in the limelight. She was recently featured on
Entertainment Tonight, detailing her childhood struggles with abuse, addiction, and jail.
Bad Examples These seven teens and
young adults idolized celebrities to such an extent that they were willing to jeopardize their
futures for a designer handbag. Hilton and Lohan themselves have run into trouble with the law and
escaped with slaps on the wrists. Maybe these kids thought they were untouchable themselves.
Hollywood, as usual, capitalized on these burglaries by turning them into films.
The Bling Ring aired on Lifetime in 2011. Another movie with the same name starring Emma Stone and
Taissa Farmiga premiered in 2013. Paris Hilton even cameoed in the film as herself.
The Bling Ring leaves a legacy of what can happen when a group of privileged
teens is spoonfed media from a young age and then use it to their advantage as young adults.
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Let us know in the comments section whether or not you think they deserved more time behind bars!