Freeloading Celebrities
Jan. 21, 2005 — -- Their lives are good. People flatter them. Their fans tell them they love them. They get adoration and money. So why aren't celebrities nicer to the "little" people?
A few months ago, a couple were sightseeing outside Leonardo DiCaprio's estate in Hollywood Hills when they found a Yorkshire terrier on the street. The dog had no identification, so they took it home.
A few days later they saw signs posted throughout the neighborhood offering a $5,000 reward for the dog's return -- no questions asked.
It turned out that the dog belonged to DiCaprio's girlfriend, Victoria's Secret model Gisele Bundchen.
"I was excited. We did a good thing by taking the dog and you know, we were going to get rewarded," Janelle Olson said.
But after Olson and her boyfriend returned the dog to DiCaprio's estate they were met by police officers with guns drawn. The couple were handcuffed, taken to the police station and questioned for two hours.
"They thought that we stole the dog," Olson said.
But they didn't steal the dog. Police admit that now. So what about that "no questions asked" reward?
The couple was told there would be no reward after all.
No reward? How cheap is that?
Bundchen declined to talk to "20/20."
But other people who've crossed paths with celebrities have found out they don't always like to pay their bills. Paris Hilton, for example.
Remember those infamous sex tapes? After they were released, Hilton's bodyguard says Hilton OK'd hiring electrician Barak Ben Shaul to beef up security at her house.
Ben Shaul said his team installed security lighting, locks and fixtures that amounted to $4,000 worth of work.
But then Hilton moved and now won't pay for the work, she says, because she didn't hire the electrician herself.
Ben Shaul says he's mad because "I paid the guys that did the job over here so everything basically came out of my pocket."
Some celebrities are famous for stiffing people. Like Courtney Love.
The troubled rocker was sued by her travel agent over a whopping airfare bill.
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