Recently in Theft / Robbery Category

The teenager that was sentenced to six months in jail last May for burglarizing Orlando Bloom's Hollywood Hills home has been released from jail early, according to CBS News. Bling Ring member Alexis Neiers spent just 30 days behind bars at the Regional Detention Facility before her release last Friday.

Yet the 19-year-old isn't completely off the hook for the burglary. The Bling Ring member still has three years of probation to get through and will have to pay a $600,000 worth of restitution for getting out of jail early.

The leaders of a San Fernando Valley charter school now face 38 felony and misdemeanor counts of criminal charges, including fraud charges of embezzlement, money laundering and filing false tax returns. The Los Angeles Times reports that the defendants Eugene Selivanov and Tatyana Berkovich have denied any wrongdoing and they have a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney that plans to defend them of the various charges.

The defendants are two married Russian immigrants who have been accused of misusing public funds at Ivy Academia. The criminal charges grew out of a 2007 audit of Ivy Academia that showed transferred funds from the charter school that were not recorded into the school's books. Specific details of the criminal case have not been made public by the district attorney's Public Integrity Division.

Los Angeles prosecutors saw 18-year-old Alexis Neiers as a minor player in the famous celebrity burglary ring, known as "the bling ring", but many L.A community members see her no contest plea as a great deal of progress with the case.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Alexis Neiers, member of the bling ring, pleaded no contest to felony residential burglary on Monday by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza. Through a plea deal, Alexis Neiers was sentenced to just six months in jail and three years probation. If she violates the terms of her probation, she can be sentenced to another two years in jail.

Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department recently arrested three members of an alleged San Fernando Valley burglary ring, according to the Los Angeles Times. Authorities believe the suspects have been involved in a string of break-ins that have together netted several million dollars worth of electronics, jewelry, and other luxury items.

The alleged burglars have been identified as Steven C. Miller, 40, and 35-year-olds Karisa Kay and Kristina Kay, who are reported to be twins. Even Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys might be amazed by some of their reported burglary tactics.

Bling Ring members went to court last week. They expected to have a date set for their preliminary hearings. Yet, ABC News reports that defendants Nick Prugo, Rachel Lee, Courtney Ames, Alexis Neiers, Diana Tamayo, Roy Lopez Jr., and Johnny Ajar heard that the Los Angeles judge has so far declined to set a date. This is so that Deputy District Attorney Sarika Kapoor could cut deals with some of the defendants.

Many Los Angeles community members are surprised by the potential plea deals and the lack of progress on this case. The defendants were supposed to have their preliminary hearing date set last January. The young adults, whose ages range from 19 to 27, all pleaded not guilty to the burglary charges of several celebrities last December.

A very skilled Los Angeles burglar was somehow able to steal $45,000 worth of jewelry from the Florida billionaire Jose Pepe Fanjul and his wife Emilia at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. The most shocking thing was that the burglar stole the items while he was in the hotel room with the couple, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The burglar posed as a hotel employee and said that he needed to fix the air conditioner vent in their room. Los Angeles police described the suspect as a man in his mid-30s with slicked-back black hair and wearing tuxedo-style clothing.

Los Angeles police detectives are investigating a bicycle-theft ring that has netted several stolen bicycles and parts. Yet LAPD believes that there has already been a significant breakthrough with the case, where two men associated with the bike-theft ring were arrested last weekend in downtown Los Angeles for receiving stolen property.

Police arrested Edward Rene Arciga, 43, and Konstantin Rostovtsev, 51. The men allegedly posted advertisements on Craigslist.com selling bicycles that had previously been stolen. Police also found that the two men had several counterfeit bills and drug paraphernalia that indicated heroin use.

Nineteen-year-old Courtney Leigh Ames, an alleged member of the 'bling ring' in Los Angeles went to court last December, as she was accused of burglarizing Paris Hilton's home. However, the teenager is now being charged with more counts after allegedly appearing in court wearing a stolen necklace belonging to Lindsay Lohan.

Last week, Ames was charged with two counts of receiving stolen property. In addition to allegedly wearing Lohan's necklace to a December court hearing, prosecutors also allege that Ames received a leather jacket that belonged to Hilton.

After a month long search, police have found a suspect known as the "stun gun bandit" in Los Angeles. Police have identified the suspect as 68-year old Lester Robert Evans. Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Paul Vernon says that it was only a matter of time, before authorities would find a suspect.

"We had a feeling this guy would surface eventually," Vernon said in the Los Angeles Times. "It just turns out he decided to rob a bank where he had his own account."

The Los Angeles Police Department has made headway on string of robberies in the Los Angeles area, where officers arrested two suspects last week. The suspects allegedly robbed six stores in which they demanded money from a safe and then took off with undisclosed amounts of money.

On January 13, 2010, Angelo Wngo, 18, and Devon Glover, 21, were arrested on suspicion of armed robbery. Investigators believe that Wngo and Glover are part of a large robbery ring, where there could potentially be others involved with the string of robberies. Wngo and Glover are currently being held in lieu of $200,000 bail at the Southwest Division Jail. Photos of the robbers are available through the LAPD's Media Relations Section.