The Bling Ring (also known as Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch , The Burglar Bunch , and Hollywood Hills Burglars ) is a group of proven thieves composed of eight teenagers and young adults living in and around Calabasas, California. They robbed the homes of several celebrities during the period believed to be between October 2008 and August 2009. Their activities resulted in the theft of about $ 3 million in cash and possessions. Most of the property stolen belongs to Paris Hilton, whose home has been robbed several times, although more than fifty homes are reported to be the target of potential theft.
Video Bling Ring
Anggota Bling Ring
Rachel Lee
The group leader, Lee lives in Calabasas with his mother. Lee and his older sister had a special background, and she drove the Audi A4 to school, where she was named "Best Dress" in her 2007 yearbook. She attended Indian Hills High School, an alternative school, because she had been expelled from Calabasas High School and after graduation got creative art scholarship. A year later, he was fined and under trial for a small theft incident in which he and Diana Tamayo stole $ 85 of merchandise from the Sephora cosmetics store. According to fellow thief Nick Prugo, Lee is obsessed with reality television. Toward the end of the crime feast, Lee moved to Las Vegas to live with his father.
Nick Prugo
Nicholas Frank Prugo is reported to be a shy and unfriendly teenager who arranged a Concert for ADHD and Zoloft for anxiety, which was transferred to Indian Hills High School after being expelled from Calabasas High School for excessive absences. In 2003, Prugo served as "Kenny" at Little Lost Souls: Children Possessed , a documentary made for TV about the expulsion of children whose parents believed they were possessed by crime. Lee befriends Prugo after he arrives at Indian Hills, and introduces it to most others who will eventually join the crime. Both were initially tied to their interest in fashion and social media. After being accepted into his circle of friends and participating in their nightlife activities, Prugo becomes addicted to drugs, and starts stealing from his parents to support his addiction. The first house they robbed together happened during the summer after the tenth grade, when he claimed that Lee suggested they rob the residence of an acquaintance from Woodland Hills that Prugo knew was out of town at the time. Prugo admitted reluctantly, but did not want to lose his friendship. During the first theft, they reportedly found $ 8,000 cash hidden under the bed. They split the money, and the next day went shopping at Rodeo Drive. Prugo and Lee started checking on the expensive car doors parked in their neighborhood, to see if the doors were open, almost every night. They'll take the credit card found in the car, and go shopping the next day in an area like Melrose Avenue. They will be well dressed, and according to Prugo, merchants never question the use of their cards. He was sentenced to two years in state prison after pleading no contest for three first-degree home-level robbery charges. He was released from prison on probation after serving 1 year.
Alexis Neiers
Alexis Neiers has become part of Lee's social circle in Indian Hills. At one point, she was expelled from her home by her mother because, according to the police, smokes OxyContin.
He claims that the police ransacked his home and found nothing. However, the police report that they found Neir's stolen belongings, his sister Gabrielle, and their sister adopted by Tess Taylor, and that she was caught on camera leaving the crime scene with a stolen bag. He initially denied making a mistake, but later changed his petition in court for no contest.
Diana Tamayo
Diana Tamayo was, in 2008, chairman of the student body at Indian Hills, where she was voted "best smile," and was awarded a $ 1,500 "Future Teacher" scholarship after graduation. He looked wealthy while driving the Lincoln Navigator, known for engaging in fights, and according to police was an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Together with Lee, he was fined and tried for involvement in a petty theft. According to Prugo, his entire outfit consists of items stolen. Its small size was used during a one-time theft where it gained group access to a house by crawling through the dog's door.
Courtney Ames
Courtney Ames, whose stepfather Randy Shields is a high school student Calabasas and Lee's "old friend". Through Ames that the others meet Lopez and Ajar, his girlfriend.
Johnny Ajar
Johnny Ajar, an ex-convict nicknamed "Johnny Dangerous", was not believed to have participated in the theft, but was recruited by his girlfriend Ames to sell some stolen goods for cash. He grew up in a residential project around Reseda, outside the group community, the son of a career villain and a drug addict. He previously spent two years in federal prison, has been convicted of drug trafficking in Wyoming at the age of 22. Teach first met Ames and his friends at a nightclub called The Green Door and lets them access, even though they use fake ID documents. At the time of the theft, he worked as a promoter for the club Les Deux Cafà ©  ©.
Roy Lopez Jr.
Roy Lopez and Ames once worked together in restaurants and bars in Calabasas. Ames has hired her as a retailer, and she also participates in the thieves of at least one victim, Paris Hilton, from which she is alleged to have stolen $ 2 million in jewelry, which she brought with her in a Louis Vuitton bag. He can not sell most of it.
Maps Bling Ring
Report a victim
Victims are targeted because they are considered fashion icons by group members. Their main target is women, who have been chosen, in the words of Prugo, "mainly because women want women's goods". If members like celebrity styles, they are determined to steal celebrity clothes. Lee called their capers "go shopping". They find their target homes using Google Maps and the celebrityaddressaerial.com website, and determine when victims will go by researching their schedules, such as appearances on celebrity shows, via websites including Facebook and Twitter. When Lee wants to add to his wardrobe or more cash he wants, a robbery will be done. The Los Angeles Police Department report later stated that what began as a "crooked adventure" triggered by celebrity worship "quickly mushroomed into an organized criminal enterprise." In the words of Neiers, Lee "was so manipulating, so conspiring, Nick always did what he said, Rachel was responsible, he started it all."
Paris Hilton
For their first celebrity target, Prugo claimed that he and Lee asked themselves, "Who will leave the door open? Who will leave a lot of money lying?", And chose Paris Hilton because they thought he was "stupid." On their inaugural trip to the Hilton home, Prugo and Lee go alone, after using Google Earth to find a place to access their community through a hill climb. They went to the front door and tried to press the doorbell to see if anyone was there. They found the key under the doormat, but then realized it was not necessary because the door was not locked. Once inside, Prugo served as a lookout near the stairs while Lee went into the bedroom and looked for Hilton's belongings. Prugo and Lee, who were later accompanied by other members of their group, eventually trapped Hilton's residence at least five different times, mostly from designer clothes and money. However, it is not until Lopez alone steals nearly $ 2 million in jewelry, clothing, money, and other items from Hilton that have been reportedly robbed. Antics during the robbery at the Hilton include snorting cocaine, which according to Prugo they found inside the house. According to Ames, at one point Prugo found that he could fit into Hilton's footwear, and perform a "victory dance" wearing a pair of high heels. Later, Hilton agreed to have the movie The Bling Ring taken at his home where the theft occurred.
Audrina Patridge
The ring robbed Audrina Patridge's home on February 22, 2009, the night of the Academy Awards ceremony that year. They accessed his home in the Hollywood Hills by going through an unlocked door, and picking up his jewelry, his passport, his laptop computer, and his jeans. The value of what they take is estimated to amount to about $ 43,000. Lee and Prugo were recorded on a Patridge surveillance video, which he uploaded to his website. Regardless of the video posted, the robbery continues.
Rachel Bilson
Rachel Bilson's house was robbed by the group three to six times during April and May 2009, amounting to between $ 130,000 and $ 300,000 of stolen property.
Prugo admits to always being very nervous during the robbery, but says that Lee is always very calm and focused - so much so that during Bilson's home robbery on May 9, Lee uses Bilson's bathroom.
The Bilson robbery generates so much in the way of clothing and accessories that members are trying to break away from some by selling it on the sidewalks of Venice Beach, where they are able to make several thousand dollars.
Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr
Orlando Bloom's home was targeted by the ring on July 13, 2009, due to the presence of his then-living girlfriend (and later wife), Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr, whose underwear Lee wanted. Prugo, Neiers, Lee and Tamayo access the venue by cutting the security fence. Once inside, they found and stole a large number of high-fashion label clothes, as well as a collection of Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton luggage, and artwork, all totaling nearly half a million dollars. Neiers, who denied having gone there knowingly, claimed to have been drunk at the time, and reportedly had come out to vomit and then urinating in the bushes. Tamayo and Lee go back inside because the latter plans to move to his father's home in Las Vegas, and wants Bloom's art to be decorated.
Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox
Brian Austin Green's home was targeted, because, according to Prugo, Lee liked his wife's outfit, actress Megan Fox. While there, the group also found and took SIG Sauer Green gun. 370 semi-automatic, which police later discovered in Teach ownership.
Lindsay Lohan
Although in August 2009 Lee has moved to his father's place in Las Vegas, he feels compelled to return to California for another robbery, his target is Lindsay Lohan, who seems to be Lee's "ultimate fashion icon" and "ultimate conquest". On the 23rd, Lee, Prugo and Tamayo allegedly stole $ 130,000 worth of clothing and jewelry from Lohan's house in Hollywood Hills. According to Prugo, Tamayo and Lee "panicked" over Lohan stuff. At the time, they were widely publicized criminals, and Prugo was very worried about robberies, knowing that if they were caught by surveillance cameras that stole from star homes, the tapes would be widely seen.
Investigation and criminal proceedings
An unidentified secret information told police that Lee and Prugo were responsible for Lohan's robbery. Prugo's face has been caught on surveillance at home, and police decide via Facebook that Lee and Prugo are friends. Prugo was arrested, and initially denied it had anything to do with the robbery, but said that anxiety because of his involvement prevented him from eating, sleeping, and breathing normally, and making him lose his hair. He confesses to the police without first getting a defense, telling them about a crime that they are not even aware of. He also told them that other potential targets are still being studied by the ring, among them Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Hilary Duff, and Vanessa Hudgens.
Two weeks after Prolo's admission, a search warrant for another ring participant was issued by the Los Angeles Police Department. Lee, Tamayo, Ames, Neiers, and Lopez were all arrested for their relationship with the robbery. Lee was arrested while at his father's home in Las Vegas. Police reported that he calmly asked them hypothetical questions about how it could help him if he really had information and shared that information with the police. Their report states that he clearly believes that he has removed all the incriminating evidence from his home. However, police found a mantle identified as Lohan's, and photos of topless Hilton that had been left in an unlocked safe at Hilton's home. Seeing this, Lee reportedly instantly turned hysterical, acting as if he was suddenly sick, and choked as if he was going to throw up. Other items reported to have been confiscated from Lee are jars of pot and more than $ 20,000 in $ 100 denominations.
People reported that members of the ring except for Lee were booked for a housing robbery, on bail of $ 50,000, while Lee was arrested for "possession of stolen goods", on bail of only $ 3,000. However, Vanity Fair reported that Lee was charged with a housing robbery for Lohan, Hilton, and Patridge robberies. At the time of the arrest it was unclear whether the robbery of Bilson's house, and other robberies from the homes of Kourtney Kardashian and Hayden Panettiere had been carried out by the group. Among the items reportedly confiscated by police from Ajar are three weapons, drugs, and laptop computers with aerial photographs of 51 homes in the Hollywood Hills. Thus he was charged with an additional offense related to weapons and drug possession. While Lee was reportedly charged with three counts of home theft, Prugo was charged with seven, each counting carrying a sentence between 2 and 6 years. All members initially pleaded not guilty.
Teach
Ajar, who was previously sentenced to three years in prison for selling cocaine, was initially confronted with ten counts of crime - six counts of possession for the sale of controlled substances, three charges of possession of firearms by criminals and one count of ammunition possession. - and plead not guilty to all of them. Later, however, he did not beg to sell cocaine, possession of firearms by convicted criminals and one charge of receiving stolen goods. The stolen property bill refers to Rolex watches owned by Orlando Bloom.
On April 15, 2010, Teach was sentenced to three years in prison. He was released less than a year later, in March 2011.
Teaching is reported to have been jailed in May 2013.
Neiers
Upon learning that Orlando Bloom was willing to testify against him, Neiers agreed not to file a contest for housing robbery, and was sentenced on May 10, 2010 to a 180-day jail term, with an additional three years probation, and being ordered to pay a $ 600,000 to the actor. During his stay at the Century Regional Detention Center, he occupied the same cell block with the Bling Ring victim, Lindsay Lohan, but said they never talked to each other. After 30 days of his sentence, he was released.
In December 2010, Neiers was arrested again, this time for possession of heroin. Instead of being sentenced to longer behind bars, he was allowed to stay in a luxury rehab facility in Malibu for a year, having been offered him a free stay by the facility owner, who attended his trial. He was in the facility from December 2010 to December 2011. In an entry posted to his blog in April 2013, he stated that he has been drunk ever since, and has been an apprentice counselor at the facility. She is now married to Canadian businessman Evan Haines, whom she met at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and together they have a daughter, Harper.
Lee
Alleged leader Lee was sentenced on October 26, 2011. She has admitted there is no contest for the theft of items worth more than $ 25,000 from the house of Audrina Patridge. Judge Larry Fidler dismissed allegations of conspiracy for robbery and two counts filed against him receiving stolen goods. He had previously also dismissed accusations against him involving Lohan's robbery. Lee was sentenced to four years in prison.
Lee's prison coach Wendy Feldman was quoted as saying "He has taken full responsibility for his actions, his attitude is that he is well prepared to go to jail and face the consequences." Regarding the role that Lee played in the theft, Feldman went on to state "Honestly, Rachel has a learning disability, she does not have a very high IQ and I find it hard to think she can be the one who instigates it all."
While serving his time, Lee participates in a disaster recovery training program called Fire Camp. In March 2013, after serving 1 year and 4 months, he was released on parole.
Tamayo
On Friday, October 19, 2012, after pleading no contest to rob Lindsay Lohan's house, Diana Tamayo was sentenced to three years probation, as well as 60 days of community service. If convicted in court, he will face a sentence of six years in prison. His lawyer claims he has confessed to police that he entered after they threatened his family with "immigration consequences". He reportedly pursued a career in fitness and nutrition, and claimed to have "found God".
Lopez
Roy Lopez Jr. was sentenced on Thursday November 8, 2012 after pleading no contest to steal more than $ 2 million jewelry from Paris Hilton. He was given three years probation and was credited for 100 days he had served in prison. He reportedly left California for a job in Texas.
Ames
Courtney Ames was sentenced on December 14, 2012 to three years probation and two months of community service. He claimed to have received a jacket stolen from Paris Hilton, but charges of conspiracy to commit robberies, robberies and receiving stolen property were dismissed for possible ethical violations by detective Brett Goodkin, principal investigator in Bling. Ring box. He went on to enroll in college, where, according to his lawyer, he studied psychology, speech, and child development.
Prugo
After claiming there was no contest for the theft of Patridge and Lohan, Nicholas Prugo was sentenced on April 15, 2013 to two years in prison. He receives credit for a year of time that has been served, and credited again with a year for good behavior and working hours. He is reportedly living in Studio City in June 2013.
Detective Brett Goodkin
Brett Goodkin, the chief investigator in this case, was approached as a consultant for The Bling Ring, the adaptation of Sofia Coppola's film about the case. He was then offered the chance to play alone in the film. However, he was allegedly not given permission from his superiors to work in the film, and his involvement caused him to be investigated. Potential conflicts of interest are cited, because while working with filmmakers, the case against the defendant involved has not been resolved.
Movie depiction
The Bling Ring, a lifelong television film documenting the group's activities, aired on September 26, 2011. It starred Austin Butler as Zack Garvey (based on Nick Prugo), Yin Chang as Natalie Kim (based on Rachel Lee) Spencer Locke as Maddie Bishop (based on Alexis Neiers), Tracey Fairaway as Cherry Cox (based on Diana Tamayo), and Tom Irwin as Detective Archie Fishman (loosely based on Det. Brett Goodkin). Jennifer Gray has a supporting role as Garvey's mother, Iris.
Another film adaptation, also titled The Bling Ring , directed by Sofia Coppola began filming in March 2012 and released in June 2013. The film stars Emma Watson (Nicki), Taissa Farmiga (Sam) and Leslie Mann ( Laurie), as well as newcomers to Israel's Broussard (Marc), Katie Chang (Rebecca), Claire Julien (Chloe) and Georgia Rock (Emily). One of the real victims of the ring's life, Paris Hilton, emerged as himself in the film. However, Tamayo or a character based on him is not in the movie, probably because Coppola probably does not want to portray immigrants without documents in a negative light.
See also
- Bling-bling
- juvenile delinquency
- Legal & amp; Order: Los Angeles premiere episode (air date: September 29, 2010) based Hollywood crime circle on Bling Ring
References
External links
- ABC News: "Hollywood Burglaries: How They Do It" Nick Prugo, a teenage suspect member of "Bling Ring," describes the theft of celebrities.
- ABC News: "Bling Ring" Celeb Burglar Sentenced to Prison: Photos of Rachel Lee and Alexis Neiers
- ^ http://woozyfaithlessn06.blog.com/2014/12/28/alexis-neiers-leaves-lindsay-lohan-behind-pretty-wild-star-liberated-from-prison/
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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