WASHINGTON • Thievery is in the air in Calabasas and Hidden Hills, California.
Singer Chris Brown, model Blac Chyna, reality television star Scott Disick and actor Kevin Hart are four celebrities who have been hit by a string of burglaries in which thousands of dollars were stolen.
Website TMZ.com reported that law enforcement sources think the burglaries share similarities and might even be linked. There is speculation that the burglar, or burglars, might know the celebrity victims as it seemed the thief or thieves knew exactly where to find cash and jewellery. Moreover, Chyna, Disick and Brown all run in similar social circles.
If there is more than one crook, then it is possible that Hollywood could be having a 2016 version of the Bling Ring.
The original Bling Ring was a group of eight teenagers from Calabasas, who robbed actress Lindsay Lohan and socialite Paris Hilton. Hilton was robbed 17 times.
Screenwriter and director Sofia Coppola made the unusual story about the teenagers into a 2013 film starring Emma Watson and Leslie Mann.
The teenagers would find out where celebrities lived using celebrity maps and they would predict when a star would not be home based on their appearance schedule, according to People magazine.
They were eventually caught, thanks to Facebook posts and security cameras.
Brown was robbed in July last year when three armed men forced his aunt into a closet while they stole cash, electronics and other items. He later said he believed that someone in his inner circle was the culprit.
Chyna, the fiancee of reality TV star Rob Kardashian, lost more than US$200,000 (S$268,389) in cash and jewellery when someone got into her safe at her Tarzana, California, home. Kardashian reported the crime to the police. There seemed to be no signs of forced entry into the home and the safe was not busted open, according to TMZ.
Disick, the father of reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian's children, was wiped clean of his watch collection while he was in Cannes last month. The police believed he probably knew who robbed him since, like Chyna, there seemed to be no forced entry.
Hart is the most recent victim. Approximately US$500,000 worth of clothes, jewellery and other items were taken from his home, according to People magazine. The police think the burglars probably broke in through the back door while no one was home.
His home has surveillance cameras and the police are looking at the footage for potential leads.
WASHINGTON POST
