Paris Hilton’s house was like our personal ATM..
‘Bling Ring’ raid gang leader on burglary spree at celeb homes
Approaching Paris Hilton’s multi-million dollar Los Angeles mansion after scaling a fence, burglars Nick Prugo and Rachel Lee could not believe their luck when they found her front door unlocked.
They pair walked straight in and helped themselves to the socialite’s clothes, bags and bras, treating her extensive built-in wardrobe “like we were shopping in a boutique”.
Prugo even tells how they repeatedly returned to the home and used it as a cash machine.
The Hilton raid was their first in an 18-month crime spree that shocked the city’s A-list residents and helped earn the duo their nickname, the “Bling Ring” after they recruited three pals to join them. They made off with £2.7million of goods.
Prugo and Lee were 17 when they started raiding houses in 2008, targeting a host of famous actors including Orlando Bloom, Miranda Kerr, Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox.
Their wild story is now being told in a Channel 4 series,
Bling Ring: Hollywood
Heist, which starts on Monday. Prugo appears to show little remorse for their actions.
He says: “Rachel and I had this idea that a celebrity would be an excellent mark to hit. I started cruising the gossip websites, saw Paris Hilton was going to Miami and that’s when we got the idea to rob her house.
“We’d already seen into Paris Hilton’s life so much, so it didn’t seem like much more of a step to enter her house. The personality she gave off was this ditzy blonde so we thought she may be prone to leaving something unlocked.”
And when the pair went back a second time just weeks later, their luck was still holding.
Prugo adds: “We approach the door but this time it was locked, Rachel looks under the mat and there’s a f***ing key, like really? Now we have a key to access this whenever.
“Between October and December we went five times. There were purses open with cash sticking out, hundreds and fifties, spare change from a night out. I felt like I needed it more than she did.
“We were constantly going to Paris’s house, it was like our personal ATM, we always knew we would find a few grand.”
Along with friends Alexis Neiers, Courtney Ames and Diana Tamayo, Prugo and Lee turned their attention to the home of Lord Of
The Rings star Orlando Bloom. He was dating Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr at the time. Prugo says: “There were so many clothes, dresses, lingerie all with the tags on. “It was almost like you are at a high-end store.
“I took a ton of his clothes. There was 10 Rolex watches and five grand cash in an envelope.” Prugo spent his late teenage years in the luxury neighbourhood of Calabasas but was nowhere near as well off as the celeb residents. He and Lee started out stealing from cars, then taking the vehicles before moving on to houses. Prugo
says: “I’ve always been the type to do what I have to do to get what I want, but I never thought in my wildest dreams it would reach the levels of criminality that it did. “There was the thrill to it.” But the gang’s luck finally ran out when they were caught on CCTV cameras at the homes of Lohan and The Hills star Audrina Patridge.
They were all arrested and jailed. Prugo got two years and was released a year later. Lee got four years and served 18 months.
But Prugo believes his conscience is clear. He says: “This happened, it’s not something I’m proud of but I did my time, I’ve learnt from it.”
Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist airs Monday at 10pm. All episodes will be available on All 4.