The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales Page B

old-school diner in Studio City with red Naugahyde booths and giant homemade donuts in the display case up front. “She already confessed to being at Orlando Bloom’s house the night of the burglary,” he said. He gave a small belch. “Did she do the fake crying thing with you where she couldn’t quite squeeze the tears out?”
    He was a big guy wearing an ill-fitting suit. I’d met him on the phone when I called the Hollywood Community Police Station, which covers Beverly Hills and was the seat of the Bling Ring investigation. (In person, the precinct isn’t quite as glamorous as its name; it might as well be the set of Barney Miller .) I asked if I could use his real name but he said, “Call me Vince Vaughn.” He told me if I “sold him out,” he’d “plant drugs” on me; but that was just his sense of humor.
    He was eating scrambled eggs and a mountain of turkey hash and drinking continuous cups of black coffee.
    â€œHow can Alexis be innocent if she was at the burglary?” I asked.
    â€œAlexis submits that she— Well, I can’t tell you that right now. But she did stuff,” he said, “believe it.”
    â€œWhat about Tess?” I asked.
    â€œTess is a Cybergirl, kind of hot. There are a bunch of pictures of her wearing clothing belonging to the victims.” One of those pictures was posted on TMZ; it showed Tess wearing a studded, light-blue leather vest allegedly belonging to Rachel Bilson. “Rachel Bilson: Hey, That’s My Vest!” said the headline.
    â€œThen why wasn’t Tess arrested?” I asked.
    â€œBecause her sister”—meaning Alexis—“didn’t rat her out,” said Vince. This was speculation—Taylor was never charged. “The D.A.’s office only pursues the cases they think they can prove,” he said. “They have to have enough evidence to make it stick.”
    Nick Prugo didn’t rat out Tess, either, although he had told on everyone else allegedly in the burglary ring. On October 6, 2009, three weeks after he was arrested, Nick met with the LAPD in the offices of his lawyer, Sean Erenstoft, and described in detail how he and his friends had been robbing the homes of celebrities. He named names, gave dates, and brought photographic evidence—pictures of his friends wearing items allegedly belonging to the burglarized stars. In one shot, Rachel Lee wears an “R” necklace that had allegedly been stolen from Rachel Bilson; in another, Lee’s wrist sports a blue-faced Rolex watch that had allegedly been taken from Lindsay Lohan’s house.
    Nick told on himself more than anyone else, offering all of this information without first getting a deal. “Which is weird ,” Vince said, shaking his head.
    â€œWhy would he do that?” I asked.

    â€œI don’t know,” said Vince. “You’ll have to ask him that.”
    But Nick didn’t implicate Tess—at least, not yet. “They had a date to go clubbing,” Vince said with a shrug.
    On October 13, 2009—a week after Nick talked to the police—he was seen out clubbing with Tess and former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell, with whom she told the gossip blogs she had been “hanging out.” TMZ posted a video of the trio coming out of the Roosevelt Hotel in L.A. and walking down the street to Bell’s car. Nick smiles gleefully as the paparazzi cluster around them, calling Bell’s name: “Drake! Drake!” “Who’s the beautiful young lady?” Bell, formerly the co-star of the tween comedy Drake & Josh (2004–2007), is an affable medium-level teen star; but suddenly the paparazzi were acting like he was James Dean. But the Bling Ring suspects were the ones really attracting the attention. Drake Bell-with-alleged-burglars was a story.
    â€œDid you ever think you’d reach this point of fame?” one of the videorazzi