Oh, these kids: teenagers who robbed Hollywood stars (10 photos)

In 2013, Sofia Coppola's film "Elite Society" was released, where in a very stylish and beautiful light they showed a gang of teenagers who systematically broke into the houses of world stars. It turned out that this picture was based on real events.





From 2008 to 2009, a gang of thieves operated in Calabasas. The total amount of loot was ultimately $3 million.

Nick Purgo and Rachel Lee were the main members of the group. The girl was an average student at school and made small thefts from school, such as $80 worth of cosmetics. And she was wildly obsessed with Hollywood stars and various reality shows. Rachel was the leader, unlike Nick, who was a rather shy kid who had recently moved to Indiana Hills. He met Rachel, and she had already introduced him to all her friends. Both Nick and Rachel loved fashion and social media.



Footage from house cameras

Prugo, finding himself among friends, became interested in fun substances and began stealing from his parents to buy them. He and Rachel went on their first “case” in the summer, when a girl invited him to rob the house of an acquaintance in Woodland Hills, who had left town for a while. They found eight thousand dollars in the house, which they spent on global shopping the very next day.

The rest of the gang had been Lee's friends since childhood. They were all about the same age, give or take a year. Someone in the company was engaged in the sale of stolen goods, someone turned out to be a burglary specialist due to their slight physique, which allowed them to enter the house through the dog door.





Rachel Leigh during her trial

It all started not so much for the sake of robbery as such, but for the sake of courage and interest in the inner life of famous people. But then it turned into an organized crime. More precisely crimes. And the main culprit was Rachel Leigh - she was a skilled manipulator.

Because Rachel loved following the lives of celebrities, especially those who were considered stylish and fashionable. The gang's targets were women, since the girls wanted branded clothes, but the guys had enough money and expensive things that could be sold.



Nick Prugo during his trial

If Rachel and the other girls were attracted to a celebrity's style, they would decide to steal her clothes. They found houses using online maps and a special website where they published the addresses of the stars. Using interviews, social media and speaking schedules, they calculated when the victim would be out of the house.

Paris Hilton



Paris Hilton

The first was the heiress to a multimillion-dollar fortune and socialite Paris Hilton. The teenagers were sure that she had so many clothes and jewelry, and that she herself was so stupid that she simply wouldn’t even notice that someone was in her house. And they were partially right.

For the first time, only Prugo and Lee went to the celebrity’s house. They approached the house and found the key under the doormat, but it turned out that Paris had not even thought about locking the doors. Prugo made sure no one came, and Rachel went to explore the house. Subsequently, the gang in full force visited Hilton's house five times (at least) and they were only interested in money and branded clothing. The robbers were careful not to take many things at once and Paris simply did not notice that there was someone in her dressing room.

Who else did the teenagers visit?



Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr

Rachel Bilson, Megan Fox, Audrina Patridge, the couple Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Brian Austin Green, Lindsay Lohan. The choice of stars was based solely on Lee's liking for the victims' clothing and taste preferences.

Prugo, by the way, said that every time he “visited” he was very nervous, but Lee was always absolutely calm. So calm that when they came to rob Bilson's house, she took a bath with her.



From Rachel's social media

An anonymous person reported to the police that Rachel Leigh and Nick Prugo were responsible for the burglary of Lindsay Lohan's home. The young man’s face appeared on the cameras at home, but then it was a matter of technique. It was established through social networksthat Nick and Rachel are good friends. When Prugo was arrested, he initially denied everything, but soon confessed, because his nervous system was absolutely exhausted: he could not sleep, eat or exist normally.

Nick Prugo confessed to everything. And even what the police didn’t know about. He also said that the gang's plans were to visit the houses of Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, Hillary Duffy and a couple of other stars.



After the confession, Los Angeles police arrested the rest of the gang two weeks later. The cops came for Lee to her father's house in Las Vegas and were struck by Rachel's stony calm and the way she confidently said that she knew nothing about the robberies. She was confident that she had removed any evidence from her home. But she forgot to hide Lindsay Lohan’s coat and topless photographs of Hilton.

As soon as they showed her what they had found, Li immediately fell into a terrible hysteria, pretending to be sick and gagging as if she was about to vomit.

A jar of marijuana and more than 20 thousand dollars were also confiscated from Rachel Lee.

Nick Prugo was sentenced to two years in prison.

Rachel Lee was sentenced to four years.

The remaining participants received sentences ranging from 3 months to 3 years in prison. And only one was given a suspended sentence of three years.

Well, and payment of compensation, of course. By the way, the whole gang was released on parole.



Nick Prugo during the filming of a documentary about the gang "The Shiny Ring"

Many teenagers were delighted with the gang's courage and even admitted that they would also like to be in the house of Paris Hilton or Orlando Bloom. Fan pages were even created. Based on the history of the gang, the film “Elite Society” was made, where the following words were put into the mouth of the actor who played Nick Prugo:

“It’s kind of embarrassing that so many people love me for such a bad deed. If they loved me because I brought benefit to our society or something like that, I would be happy. But this only proves that America is still crazy about people like Bonnie and Clyde."



Still from the film "Elite Society"