(Watch the Good Morning America video)

The suspects are accused of burglarizing a handful of celebrity homes including Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Orlando Boom, Rachel Bilson, among others. They are accused of taking almost $3 million in personal items including clothing and jewelry.

Suspect Rachel Lee, 19, pleaded not guilty to three counts of residential burglary and two counts of receiving stolen property on Wednesday.

Suspect Nicholas Prugo, dressed up for a video interview on Good Morning America on Wednesday, where he said the group researched the celebrities on the Internet to find out when they wouldn’t be home. At times both Prugo and Lee have been considered the ring leader.

“I feel really bad for what I did,” Nick Prugo said on Good Morning America Wednesday.

Prugo also pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying he has returned some of the stolen items and is cooperating with the police. Some of the other defendants are calling him a rat.

“They’re going to say what they’re going to say. If me taking responsibility for my crimes and trying to help out the police makes me a rat, then so be it. I’m just trying to make amends and and do right,” Prugo said during his Good Morning America interview.

Prugo blames peer pressure for their actions. The suspects even referred to the burglaries as “going shopping.” Yet he still pleaded not guilty….

“It started out small — cars, just looking at little things. And then it escalated into homes, and then celebrities’ homes, and it became very big, very fast, and I don’t think any of us realized how severe it was until we actually got caught,” said Prugo.

Other suspects who face charges include Courtney Leigh Ames, Diana Tamayo and Alexis Christine Neiers (who is now on a E! reality show that debuts in March called Pretty Wild).

My opinion? One of the suspects is on a reality TV show and I think this is how the suspects see it – as surreal, not a serious situation.

How in the world can Prugo plead not guilty after admitting his part? How do any of them plan to get away with this when they have video? I wonder if they are all banking in making money on selling their stories or the possibility of a “TV movie,” etc.

Prugo even goes so far to say they were burglarizing cars and other things before they even considered celebrity homes? I would say they are repeat offenders that got caught. They didn’t do this just once but several times. I like what the Good Morning America reporter says to Prugo: “In what kind of universe is this okay?”

Also, Prugo is supposedly featured in an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, where he talks about the crimes.

Can you believe this baloney? I hope the court doesn’t go easy on these suspects.

Here’s a TMZ video of Lee leaving court Wednesday.

Image: (Bling Ring suspect Rachel Lee leaves a Los Angeles court.) splashnewsonline.com

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Alexis and her two sisters Tess Taylor and Gabriele Neiers will be featured on an upcoming E! reality show Pretty Wild, that will start in March.

Neiers was allegedly found with stolen property belonging to Lindsay Lohan and Rachel Bilson.

When asked by the paparazzi if she would do jail time, she said she doesn’t think so.

“I highly doubt it… I’m gonna say no,” Neiers told X17.

The pilot was shot before Neiers was arrested. Nine episodes have been ordered.

Earlier in the evening, she told X17 that the mastermind of the burglaries was a male and she goes on to say how mature she is now. How does that get her off the hook for her alleged participation?

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Rachel Lee, 19, was charged Wednesday. Five other suspects have already been charged with the burglaries.

Lee was arrested initially in October in Las Vegas, but at the time, Los Angeles prosectuors declined to press charges against her.
Lee and Nicholas Prugo, the first suspect arrested who faces seven counts of first-degree burglary, are considered by the authorities as the leaders. Prugo told LAPD that Lee suggested the celebrity homes to target, while he would do the research.

The burglaries were committed between December 2008 and October 2009. Among the celebrities hit were Lohan (in August), Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson, Ashley Tisdale, Megan Fox and Audrina Patridge.

Lee is charged with the burglaries of Lohan, Hilton and Patridge. She is suspected of receiving stolen property including a fur coat and photographs.

Image: Fame Pictures. (Police and repairman arrive at Lindsay Lohan’s Los Angeles home on Aug. 23, 2009 after the actress discovered she had been burglarized.)

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Judge Darrell Mavis issued his decision after LAPD officials testified that Neiers admitted entering the actor’s home July 13, and they found stolen items belonging to actresses Rachel Bilson and Lindsay Lohan in her home. The officials also testified another alleged burglar identified her in a security video, the story said.

Lindsay’s home was burglarized in late August.

Neirs’ attorney Susan Morris Haber said her client “lacks intent” because she was intoxicated and did not realize what was happening until it she saw others ransacking the house and then demanded to leave. The judge rejected her argument, the LA Times reported.

LAPD Officer Brett Goodkin testified that another alleged ring member, Nicholas Prugo, 18, identified Neiers as one of four hooded people seen on a security video entering Bloom’s Hollywood Hills home. Prugo has been charged with seven burglaries, the LA Times said.

Among the goods found at Neirs’ home was Lohan’s black-and-white Chanel necklace found in Neirs’ younger sister’s bedroom and Bilson’s Marc Jabobs handbag, Goodkin testified, according to the LA Times.

The two other alleged ring members are Diane Tamayo, 19, and Rachel Lee, 18. Tamayo has been charged in the case. Lee was arrested in Las Vegas but has not been charged.

LAPD Det. Jose Alvarez testified that Neiers admitted being there with Prugo and two other women but claimed that she did not conceal her identity, the story said. Neirs said she thought they were going to the house to recover Lee’s clothing from a friend and that she demanded to be taken home after she became violently ill and vomited outside, Alvarez said, according to the LA Times.

Neirs did admit to helping Prugo remove a large leather bag, Alvarez testified, but said she did not take property.

Goodkin said most of the more than $3 million in stolen items were recovered from Prugo.

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Suspect Jonathan Ajar (knicknamed “Johnny Dangerously” by the police) surrendered to police in Hollywood on Wednesday. (Photo of Ajar on left)

Prosecutors have charged Ajar with 10 felony drug and gun counts after searching his home.

Lindsay’s former Hollywood Hills home was burglarized in late August.

Meanwhile, search warrants documents show that the celebrity burglary ring (being called numerous things including Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch and Bling Ring) made out like bandits stealing everything from gold and silver jewelry, a Cartier watch with diamonds, purses from Marc Jabobs, Chanel and Louis Vuitton, etc.

UPDATE: Added videos

Besides Lindsay Lohan, other celebrities who were burglarized included Paris Hilton, Audrina Patridge, Rachel Bilson, Brian Austin Green, Megan Fox, Orlando Bloom and Ashley Tisdale.

A search of Ajar’s home discovered illegal drugs and several guns. Because Ajar was convicted in 2002 of a federal drug charge, drugs and guns in his possession are prohibited. Ajar is suspected of attempting to sell the stolen goods.

Other suspects in the burglary ring include Alexis Neiers, Diana Tamayo, Courtney Ames, Roy Lopez Jr., Rachel Lee and Nicholas Prugo.

Image: splashnewsonline.com

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Rachel Lee, 19, Diana Tamayo, 19, Courtney Ames, 18, Alexis Neiers, 18, and Roy Lopez, Jr., 27, were all arrested in connection to the crimes. Nicholas Prugo, 18, was arrested last month and has been formally accused of the Lohan and Audrina Patridge burglaries.

Prosecutors charged Prugo Wednesday with five more felony counts of first-degree burglary for a total of seven; Tamayo with two counts; and Ames, Neiers and Lopez with one count each, according to People.

Prosecutors estimate that more than $3 million in jewelry, designer clothes and accessories were stolen between late 2008 and September 2009, but have declined to formally charge Lee for now, pending further investigation, People reported.

LAPD also announced that other celebrities were burglarized, including
Megan Fox, Brian Austin Green and Ashley Tisdale.

Paris Hilton, Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Patridge and Orlando Bloom were previously confirmed as burglary victims, People said.

A source told People that Green and Fox did not realize they were burglarized until Green’s stolen handgun was retrieved from one of the suspect’s homes. Police traced the gun back to Green, who realized a Rolex Submariner watch had been stolen.

The source said the burglary ring conducted surveillance on other celebrity homes including Zac Efron and DJ AM’s residences.

The LAPD added a seventh suspect called “Johnny Dangerously” is on the run. Convicted drug trafficking felon, Jonathan Ajar, 27, is considered armed and dangerous, and is believed to be hiding out in the Phoenix, Ariz., area, according to People.

LAPD showed a photo Wednesday of 80 pieces of jewelry belonging to Hilton that were allegedly recovered from Ajar’s home, People reported.

Hilton has since recovered most of her stolen items. The source confirms that Bilson has also gotten some of her lost possessions back.

I hope Lindsay’s belongings are eventually returned as well.

Image: splashnewsonline.com

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The source also said one of the alleged suspects — Rachel J. Lee — is under investigation for the $2 million jewelry heist at Paris Hilton’s home last year and of possibly being the crime ringleader.

A LAPD spokesman has yet to confirm the arrests, however, People reported.

Patridge’s home was broken into on Feb. 23, while Lindsay’s home was burglarized on Aug. 23 with an estimated $128,000 in jewelry, designer clothes and accessories taken, People reported.

The crackdown follows the arrest in September of alleged suspect Nicholas Prugo, 18, who has been accused in both burglaries.

Image: INF

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