Celebrity robbers had database of 50 luxury mansions to target


A Hollywood teenage girl gang alleged to have burgled the homes of celebrities including Megan Fox, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan had compiled a database of more than 50 luxury mansions as possible targets.

The gang, variously known as the "Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch" or the "Bling Ring," is accused by police of being a group of celebrity-obsessed thieves who between them carried out 10 burglaries over the last year, netting $3 million (£1.8 million) worth of jewellery and designer clothes.

Other alleged victims include Orlando Bloom, Audrina Patridge of MTV reality show The Hills, Ashley Tisdale who starred in the High School Musical films, and Rachel Bilson from The O.C.



Three young women, Diana Tamayo, 19, Courtney Ames, 18, and Alexis Neirs, 18, have been charged. A fourth, Rachel Lee, 18, who was arrested in Las Vegas, is also a suspect but has not been charged. Two men – Roy Lopez Jr, 27, and Nicholas Prugo, 18 – have been charged.

Detectives said the young women all attended the same high school in Los Angeles and had a taste for luxury goods and accessories. Neiers is currently filming a pilot episode for a reality television show.

The suspects are alleged to have looked at celebrity magazines and the internet to decide which items they wanted to steal before using Hollywood star maps and computer satellite software to find the homes of their victims.

A laptop seized from one of the suspects had aerial photographs on it of 51 multi-million dollar homes in the Hollywood Hills. Police are trying to establish who lives at the mansions.

There was also a photograph of Paris Hilton with a pair of designer high-heeled boots she was wearing on a red carpet highlighted and enlarged.

Other photographs showed Lindsay Lohan in a watch shop and then what appeared to be one of the suspects wearing her stolen blue Rolex.

LAPD Captain Beatrice Girmala said: "Beginning in late 2008 we became aware of a string of residential burglaries involving celebrities as victims.

"Diligence and exhaustive follow-up by detectives led to the linkage of 10 cases, and these 10 cases led us to a ring of suspects who utilised technology and various internet resources to track the calendars of high-profile celebrities.

"Hollywood detectives tenaciously took these leads and, facilitated by videotaped surveillance, were able to uncover information leading to the identification of seven suspects."

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