It’s been almost 10 years since Sofia Coppola film The Bling Ring hit cinemas, which starred Emma Watson and Taissa Farmiga as the teen thieves who burgled celebrity homes in the late noughties – but now Channel 4 is diving into the true story with its brand new docuseries.
Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist is a three-part series, examining how the Calabasas criminals managed to rob the homes of Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom and other stars.
Estimated to have stolen approximately $3 million in items, the Bling Ring’s burglaries are explored in this new doc, which interviews Bling Ring members Alexis Neiers and Nick Prugo.
If you’re wondering who Nick Prugo is and where he is now, then we’ve got you covered. Read on for everything you need to know.
Who is Nick Prugo?
Nick Prugo is a former child actor and member of the Bling Ring – a group of thieves based in Calabasas, California, who stole approximated $3m (£2.4m) in cash, jewellery and belongings from the homes of celebrities between 2008 and 2009.
While he originally set out to be an actor – landing a small role in 2003 TV quasi-documentary Little Lost Souls: Children Possessed – he stopped acting whilst in school and became friends with Rachel Lee, who would become the ringleader of the Bling Ring.
According to Vanity Fair, Prugo and Lee robbed their first house together when they were in 10th grade (Year 11 in the UK), stealing $8,000 in cash. They would also take credit cards and cash from unlocked cars on a nightly basis, with Prugo saying that he was “stealing for drugs”, having developed a cocaine habit.
In 2008, Prugo and Lee broke into Paris Hilton’s home and stole designer clothes, expensive items and cash.
Prugo, with the rest of the Bling Ring, went on to burgle the homes of Audrina Partridge (taking items worth $43,000), Rachel Bilson ($130,000-$300,000), Orlando Bloom (almost $500,000), Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox as well as Lindsay Lohan ($130,000 in clothes and jewellery).
After an anonymous person told the police that he had been responsible alongside Rachel Lee for the Lindsay Lohan burglary in August 2009, Prugo was arrested and eventually confessed to the police without securing a plea deal first.
Officer Brett Goodkin, who was the lead investigator in the case, told Vanity Fair: “He confessed to crimes we didn’t even know he committed.”
He pleaded no contest to the burglaries of Partridge and Lohan’s homes and received a prison sentence of two years.
Speaking to ABC Eyewitness News in 2013 about the Bling Ring burglaries, Prugo said: “I didn’t really understand, you know, what was real and what wasn’t at that time, just because I was so consumed with reality television.”
Where is Nick Prugo now?
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Nick Prugo served one year of his sentence in prison and went on to tell ABC News his side of the Bling Ring story in 2010. “I’m definitely sorry for what I’ve done, I’m trying to take early responsibility of my crimes and I’m just trying to make amends with the victims. I feel really bad for what I did.”
In 2015, Prugo was arrested on charges of stalking and solicitation of rape. He was accused of harassing an aesthetician in West Hollywood. He pleaded guilty to the charge of stalking, however the judge ruled that there was not enough evidence to make a case on the solicitation of rape charge, according to the Daily Mail.
He was sentenced to 350 hours of community service and three years’ probation, and ordered to keep away from the victim and her children, according to LAist.
Prugo was portrayed in Sofia Coppola’s 2013 film The Bling Ring by Israel Broussard, whose character Marc Hall was based on Prugo.
Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist begins on Monday 25th April at 10pm on Channel 4. Check out more of our Entertainment and Factual coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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