Paris Hilton secretly testified in a courtroom

Reported by the Associated Press / Edited by PHS

Roughly two weeks before a judge would sentence her to jail, Lindsay Lohan sat in a downtown courtroom and recounted to a grand jury how a burglar’s black fingerprints on her wall left her so unnerved that she had to move.

Moments later, Orlando Bloom told the same panel how a break-in at his home had left him distrustful of those around him, especially after he realized his carefully hidden collection of watches had been plundered.

The appearance of Lohan, Bloom and four other celebrities in late June before a Los Angeles County grand jury went unnoticed. Yet their testimony helped indict five young people who authorities claim desperately craved what the stars had and were willing to cut through fences and climb through a doggie door to get.

The stars’ reactions revealed in recently unsealed testimony obtained by The Associated Press offers the most detailed account so far of the personal toll that resulted from the rash of celebrity break-ins by the so-called “Bling Ring” between October 2008 and August 2009. One ring member pleaded out and served time; the five others face trial later this year.

A Louis Vuitton bag full of jewelry was returned to Paris Hilton after several alleged members of the group were arrested in October.

Prugo, another alleged Bling Ring mastermind, told authorities that Hilton’s home was actually targeted numerous times before a December 2008 heist nabbed the socialite’s jewelry and luxury clothes.

Hilton told the grand jury that she first noticed something was amiss when she spotted dirty shoe prints leading up the stairs to her bedroom.

“My closet where all my jewelry is kept had been ransacked and, you know, basically two full entire shelves were, I guess, pushed into a bag,” Hilton told the panel. Also gone was a topless photo of the socialite, which detectives said was recovered from Lee’s home.

Hilton’s home was also recently targeted by a man who authorities say showed up at the residence armed with two knives. Prosecutors have charged Nathan Lee Parada with one count of attempted felony burglary, although his case does not appear related to the Bling Ring.

Full report can be read here.