8.1.2 True Crime Stories: The Bling Ring

Figure 8.1 Photo of socialite Paris Hilton in Monaco 2019.

Between October 2008 and August 2009, a group of seven teenagers committed a notorious amount of property crime, so much so that it was turned into two movies and a docu-series. This group of friends from Calabasas, California broke into the homes of several celebrities in the Hollywood Hills and took about $3 million in clothing, jewelry, and cash. If there was a celebrity whose style they liked, they decided to “go shopping” in that person’s home and take whatever they wanted. The home addresses were all available publicly on celebrity-tracking websites. Also, each of the celebrities posted their public event schedules on social media, so the group knew when a home would most likely be empty.

They hit socialite Paris Hilton’s home at least five times (figure 8.1). The first time they went there, the front door was unlocked and they also found a key under the welcome mat making the following visits even easier. The burglaries were not reported to police (maybe Hilton did not notice the missing items) until almost $2 million worth of clothing, jewelry, and cash was taken in a single break-in.

The group also burglarized actor Rachel Bilson at least three times, taking up to $300,000 worth of property. They also stole from the homes of actor Orlando Bloom and model Miranda Kerr, actors Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox, and actor Lindsay Lohan. They had plans to hit over 50 celebrity homes. Once caught, all members of The Bling Ring were charged with residential burglary among other charges.

In this chapter, we will talk about the property crime of burglary, along with other property crimes and public order crimes. However, you can already note an important difference in the crimes we are discussing here compared to those in the last chapter – during each of these crimes, the owner of the property was not present.