Bling Ring
The Bling Ring was a group of seven teenagers and young adults based in and around Calabasas, California, convicted of multiple thefts.
They broke into the homes of several high-profile celebrities over a period believed to have been between October 2008 through August 2009. Their activities resulted in the theft of about $3 million in cash and belongings. Much of the stolen property belonged to socialite Paris Hilton, whose house was broken into several times, though over fifty homes were reportedly targeted.
Bling Ring members
Rachel Lee
Lee lived in Calabasas, California with her mother. She has mentioned she had the smallest house in her neighborhood and was ashamed of her Korean heritage and struggled to make friends. She was expelled from Calabasas High School and later attended Indian Hills High School, an alternative school that awarded her a creative arts scholarship upon graduating. A year later, she was fined and put on probation for petty theft after she and Diana Tamayo stole $85 of merchandise from a Sephora cosmetics store. According to fellow burglar Nick Prugo, Lee was obsessed with reality television. She also struggled with Xanax addiction. Toward the end of the crime spree, Lee moved to Las Vegas to live with her father.Rachel was sentenced to four years in prison, and was released after 16 months.
Nick Prugo
Nicholas Frank Prugo transferred to Indian Hills High School after being expelled from Calabasas High School for excessive absences. In 2003, Prugo had a role as "Kenny" in Little Lost Souls: Children Possessed, a made-for-TV quasi-documentary about the exorcism of children whose parents believed them to be possessed by evil. In June 2006, Nick and his family moved to Calabasas where he eventually met Rachel Lee. According to Nick, their first crime together involved stealing a wallet out of a parked car and going on a shopping spree with the credit cards found inside. Lee befriended Prugo after he arrived at Indian Hills and introduced him to most of the other people who would eventually join the crime spree. The two initially bonded over their interest in fashion and social media. After being accepted into her circle of friends and participating in their nightlife activities, Prugo became hooked on drugs and began stealing from his parents to support his addiction. The first home they burgled together occurred during the summer after tenth grade, when he claims that Lee suggested they burgle the residence of an acquaintance from Woodland Hills whom Prugo knew to be out of town at the time. Prugo claims to have been reluctant but did not want to risk losing her friendship. During that first burglary, they reportedly discovered $8,000 in cash hidden under a bed. They split the money, and the next day went on a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive. Prugo and Lee began checking the doors of expensive cars parked in their neighborhood to see if they were unlocked on an almost nightly basis. They would take credit cards found in the cars and go shopping the next day in areas like Melrose Avenue. They would be dressed well, and according to Prugo, merchants never questioned their use of the cards. He was sentenced to two years in state prison after pleading no contest to three counts of first-degree residential burglary. He was released from prison on probation after serving one year.Alexis Neiers
had been part of Lee's social circle at Indian Hills.Alexis claims to have only been involved in the one burglary of Orlando Bloom’s house.
Police searched her home and reported that they found stolen items in the possession of Neiers, her sister Gabrielle, and their adopted sister Tess Taylor, and that she was caught on camera leaving the scene of the crime with stolen bags. She initially denied any wrongdoing, but later changed her plea in court to no contest.
Neiers' was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of probation, and was also ordered to pay $600,000 in restitution to Orlando Bloom.
Diana Tamayo
Diana Tamayo was the student body president at Indian Hills, where she had been voted "best smile" and been awarded a $1,500 "Future Teacher" scholarship after graduation. Along with Lee, she had been fined and put on probation for engaging in petty theft. According to Prugo, her entire wardrobe consisted of stolen items. Her small size was utilized during one burglary in which she gained the group access to a home by crawling through a dog door. She was also an illegal immigrant and was initially threatened with deportation by the police to get her to cooperate.Courtney Ames
Courtney Ames was a Calabasas High School student and an "old friend" of Lee's. It was through Ames that the others met Lopez and Ajar, her boyfriend.Johnny Ajar
Johnny Ajar, a former convict, is not believed to have participated in the burglaries, but was recruited by Ames, his girlfriend, to sell some of the stolen items for cash. He was raised in housing projects around Reseda, outside of the group's community, the son of a career criminal and drug addict. He had previously spent two years in federal prison, having been convicted for drug trafficking in Wyoming at age 22. Ajar first met Ames and her friends at a nightclub called The Green Door and allowed them access, even though they used fake identification documents. At the time of the burglaries, he worked as a promoter for club Les Deux Café. Until he was caught, he held a "day job" in the file room of a LA lawfirm.Roy Lopez Jr.
Roy Lopez and Ames had worked together at a restaurant and bar in Calabasas. Ames had recruited him as a reseller, and he also participated in burglarizing at least one victim, Paris Hilton, from whom he is alleged to have stolen $2 million in jewelry, which he carried out with him in a Louis Vuitton bag. He was unable to sell most of it.Reported victims
The group targeted media figures known for their fashionable tastes and stylish, status-driven lifestyles. Their primary targets were female, having been chosen, in the words of Prugo, "mainly because women wanting women's stuff". If the members liked a celebrity's style, they became determined to steal the celebrity's clothes. Lee referred to their capers as "going shopping." They found the houses of their targets using Google Maps and determined when the victims would be away by researching their schedules, such as appearances at celebrity events, through websites including Facebook and Twitter. When Lee wanted to add to her wardrobe, or more cash was desired, a burglary would be undertaken. The Los Angeles Police Department report later stated that what began as a "twisted adventure" fueled by celebrity worship "quickly mushroomed into an organized criminal enterprise." In the words of Neiers, Lee "was so manipulating, so conniving. Nick always did what she said. Rachel was in charge. She started it all."Paris Hilton
For their first celebrity target, Prugo claims that he and Lee asked themselves, "Who would leave a door unlocked? Who would leave a lot of money lying around?" and chose Paris Hilton because they figured she was "dumb." On their maiden trip to Hilton's home, Prugo and Lee went alone, having used Google Earth to find a place to access her community via a hill climb. They went up to the front door and tried ringing the doorbell to see if anyone was there. They discovered a key under the doormat, but then realized it was not needed because the door was unlocked. Once inside, Prugo served as a lookout near the stairs. At the same time, Lee went into the bedroom and searched through Hilton's belongings. Prugo and Lee, later accompanied by other members of their group, ended up burgling Hilton's residence at least five different times, mostly of designer clothing and money. However, it was not until Lopez single-handedly stole nearly $2 million in jewelry, clothing, cash, and other items from Hilton that she reported having been burglarized. Antics during the Hilton burglaries included snorting cocaine, which Prugo claims they found inside the residence. According to Ames, at one point Prugo discovered that he could fit into Hilton's footwear, and did a "victory dance" wearing a pair of her high-heeled shoes; Prugo subsequently denied ever wearing Hilton's shoes. Later, Hilton agreed to having the film The Bling Ring shot in her house where the burglaries took place.Audrina Patridge
The ring burglarized the home of Audrina Patridge on February 22, 2009, the night of that year's Academy Awards ceremony. They accessed her home in Hollywood Hills by entering an unlocked door and took jewelry, her passport, her laptop computer, and custom-fit jeans. The value of what they took was estimated to amount to around $43,000. Lee and Prugo were recorded on Patridge's surveillance videos, which Patridge uploaded to her website. Despite the videos being posted, the burglaries continued.Rachel Bilson
's home was burglarized by the group three to six times during April and May 2009, amounting to between $130,000 and $300,000 of stolen property.Prugo claimed to have always been very nervous during the burglaries, but said that Lee was always very calm and focused — so much so that during a burglary of Bilson's home on May 9, Lee used Bilson's bathroom.
The Bilson burglaries yielded so much in the way of clothes and accessories that members tried to relieve themselves of some of it by selling it at the Venice Beach boardwalk, where they were able to make a few thousand dollars.