Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman and Hollywood elites are sitting ducks for new breed of burglars: security expert

New York Post

5 days ago

Vicious burglars and break-in gangs are using cutting-edge technology to pull off nefarious heists — and even celebs like Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman and Keanu Reeves aren't safe.
A spate of home invasions, crafty break-ins and the recent tragic double-murder of 'American Idol' music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband Thomas Deluca inside their Encino home, at the hands of an apparent robber, have Hollywood on high alert.
No number of cameras and alarm systems are enough to outwit the gangs, according to one pro.
Advertisement
'They use signal jammers, which you can buy for a few thousand dollars' security ace to the stars, Kris Herzog, told The Post. 'It jams the signal to your cameras, your alarm, your mobile phone.
13 Brad Pitt's home was broken into after intruders climbed a fence to get on property.
Anadolu via Getty Images
'It all turns off, as if you were home and simply deactivated your alarm. Then [the thieves] dress as gardeners and show up a few hours before or after the real gardeners.
Advertisement
13 Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are among the stars who have had homes broken into.
AFP via Getty Images
'They enter through the same gate [as the legit gardeners] and load leaf-blower bags with your valuables. I've been told 50 or 60 of these signal-jammer gangs are active in LA and none of them have ever been caught.'
Celebrities and athletes are frequent targets, as the public nature of their lives means media-savvy thieves know when they're playing games out-of-town or promoting a movie abroad. They also use drones to surveil targets, according to sources.
For example, unlucky Los Angeles Dodger Yasiel Puig reportedly had his house robbed four times over a 10-month period — with two incidents even going down while he was playing at Dodger Stadium.
Advertisement
13 'American Idol' music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband, Thomas Deluca, were both killed by an intruder.
Robin Kaye/Facebook
13 This is the Encino house where Kay and Deluca lived and were killed.
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Herzog, owner of the Bodyguard Group of Beverly Hills, went on to boast, 'Right now I could go to the homes of multiple celebrities and show you in less than 10 minutes how to get onto their properties and inside their houses without anybody calling the police.'
This past Valentine's Day, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's Los Angeles area home was broken into by an intruder who smashed a glass window to gain entry. It is unclear what was taken from the house.
Advertisement
In December 2023, Keanu Reeves was robbed by burglars wearing ski masks. They too used the broken-window gambit to enter his Hollywood Hills property. The following year, three of his watches, including a $9,000 Rolex, were recovered – all the way from Chile.
13 Jennifer Aniston's home was targeted by an intruder in his 70s. The man rammed into the gate.
Getty Images for FIJI Water
13 This is the home where an intruder was caught by a guard and held at gunpoint until the police arrived.
ABC7
Los Angeles police have previously warned about the proliferation of South American gangs who operate in the city.
Such gangs often arrive in the country as tourists, carry out pre- organized burglary sprees, some even stealing to order, and then leave again, with fences moving the stolen goods separately. Police are often left clueless when it comes to IDing, matching fingerprints or DNA to the foreign intruders.
13 Kris Herzog believes that celebrities need to get smart about security.
Courtesy of Kris Herzog
13 One of Herzog's police cars and a sign designed to ward off intruders.
Courtesy of Kris Herzog
This past June, Brad Pitt's home in a gated community was broken into; thieves climbed a fence to get on property and ransacked. In 2017, Kendall Jenner had hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry stolen from her, in what was reported to be an inside job.
Advertisement
'The unfortunate reality is that the more you have in terms of wealth and notoriety, the more you become a target,' Jeff Zisner, president and CEO of Aegis Security and Investigations, told Fox News.
As Max Lea, President of Safehouse Security Solutions, told Architectural Digest, 'These crimes are becoming the new normal. People have to change their response.'
According to Hollywood Reporter, elaborate security details for celebrities can run six- to seven-figures. But, judging by the rash of criminal events over several years, it is money well spent.
13 Over the years, Drake has had the misfortune of dealing with bad guys on multiple occasions.
WireImage
Advertisement
Tina Knowles, mother of Beyonce, had her Hollywood Hills home broken into and thieves managed to steal an entire safe, loaded with $1 million in cash and jewelry, in 2023.
Marlon Wayans got robbed in July last year. The thieves were so stealth that brother Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was in the house at the time, slept through the break in. He later posted to Instagram, 'They didn't get much because I don't own s–t.'
Drake has particularly bad luck with thieves. Over the years, he's been held up at gunpoint, endured his Toronto home being broken into (where a security guard was shot) and also had his Benedict Canyon mansion burglarized in 2023. On that occasion, officers nabbed a suspect within hours.
Those who tip off criminals about whose home is ripe for burglary can be surprisingly close, according to Herzog.
Advertisement
13 Break-in artists took a safe out of Tina Knowles' home.
Paras Griffin
'Every day in LA, a valet, a landscaper, a pool cleaner, a maid will sell someone out to armed criminal gangs,' he said.
'They know the layout of the house, the home security system, which dogs are aggressive. Because these people have been in the houses for their jobs, they know where all the valuables are hidden and when the homeowners will be away — and they don't like their employers.
'That's how, 90 percent of the time, [burglars and home invaders] get away with it.'
Advertisement
Some celebrity helpers cut right to the chase and do it themselves: In 2000, comedian David Spade withstood a stun gun attack from his own assistant, who allegedly tried robbing his home. Spade later brushed off the incident saying the assistant was suffering a mental episode.
13 Marlon Wayons was robbed as his brother Keenan Ivory Wayans slept.
EPA
In 2017 he wasn't so lucky as Spade had his safe stolen, resulting in the funnyman losing some $80,000 in cash and jewelry.
Herzog claims getting into massive properties is easier than an Oscar winner passing an audition for a Japanese cola commercial: 'When you have a home so large that there are 50 or 60 points of entry – windows that open and close, doors that open and close. Are you really telling me that [the star] is walking around the house [to check the doors and windows]?'
The importance of celebrities having physical security guards – rather than relying exclusively on alarm systems – was recently underscored by an incident that took place at the $21m Bel Air home of Jennifer Aniston.
13 On two occasions, Yasiel Puig was playing baseball for the Dodgers when thieves hit his home.
Getty Images
This past May, a man in his 70s is alleged to have rammed his car through the gate of the star's house, while she was there. A security guard on duty held the intruder at gunpoint until the police arrived to apprehend him.
In the case of Tyler Perry, a thermal imaging camera system plus 24/7 security guards managed to chase off intruders from the grounds before they used their bust-in equipment – which included bolt-cutters, a saw and crowbars – to steal the valuables.
Herzog insists his clients take things further than merely having a human guard on the property.
13 Keanu Reeves is said to have had his home broken into. Luckily, three of his wrist watches were recovered in far-away Chile.
Getty Images
He capitalizes on an LA law that allows police officers to do private security work, while in uniform, when they are off the clock.
He also cooks up a serious deterrent for clients. 'I have retired police cars,' said Herzog, maintaining his cars are near identical to the real thing.
'Nobody is afraid of a security guard. But if there's a police car sitting there? The bad guys say that they don't want to get shot. And if the cop presses one button, there's going to be 100 other cops from all different directions. Criminals don't want to trade freedom or their lives for getting money out of a house.'
In 2025, Herzog maintained, anything less than a uniformed cop in the driveway and 'celebrities are easy targets because the word is out, they make [bad] security decisions.'