80-year-old woman gets 3-year sentence for Torrance burglary

Larry Altman and Denise Nix

Staff Writers

02/24/2010 08:19:42 PM PST
   

 80-year-old Doris Thompson has a long rap sheet. 

 

Thompson said she deserved a longer prison sentence.

Police arrested her Feb. 4 as in the burglary at the Children's Medical Group office at 3440 Lomita Blvd.

Employees at the doctor's office believe she slipped inside as a male employee worked Dec. 19, and stayed inside when the worker left.

"She just kind of came through and ransacked the drawers and stole money," an employee said. "She was very sly and quiet."

Thompson had plenty of experience with crime.

State Department of Corrections records - which list her as Betty March, one of 27 aliases - show her first offense as "disturbing the peace" in 1955.

For more than five decades to follow, Thompson spent time in and out of lockup for crimes ranging from petty theft to burglary.

Records show that in 1957, police arrested her in connection with a homicide, but she was deemed insane and committed to a hospital.

In 1965, she received 90 days in jail for petty theft, and another seven days for a theft in Beverly Hills. In 1967, it was second-degree burglary and a prison sentence.

In 1969, forgery and theft convictions landed her in jail for 180 days. In 1972, another 44 days in prison for burglary.

The arrests and sentences continued: Grand theft property in Glendale in 1975, misdemeanor theft in Beverly Hills in 1977, and burglary again in Beverly Hills in 1980.

She moved north to Redwood City and San Mateo, where she was held for burglary but never prosecuted.

Thompson received another six months in jail for burglary and receiving stolen property in Pasadena in 1981. Then there were two years in state prison in 1983 for second-degree burglary in Los Angeles; and another 30 days in 1984 for burglary.

She reportedly escaped from jail for that one, but went back in 1985 following a sentence for petty theft in San Francisco in 1985.

In 1990, she went back to prison when prosecutors say she cracked open a safe in Los Angeles.

When she got out, she committed more crimes in Newport Beach in 1993. A judge sent her to prison for 20 more months in 1999 for burglaries in Orange.

As she moved into her 70 s, Thompson went to prison in 2002 on a four-year sentence for receiving stolen property. She was released in 2006, but went straight back to jail for a two-year sentence for burglary in 2008 in Beverly Hills.

Thompson was released on parole in October.

Shortly after the December crime, a detective in Torrance remembered the elderly woman when he saw the surveillance video from the doctor's office. He remembered the wanted flier he received from Beverly Hills police a couple of years ago.

"We worked with Beverly Hills P.D. from their prior cases and were able to identify the suspect as Doris Gamble," Torrance police Sgt. Jeremiah Hart said.

Gamble turned out to be another alias.

During questioning by officers, Thompson told them she had worked as a nanny, cook and clerk. She explained her life of crime by saying she "wouldn't do all this nonsense if the government gave us more money," Deputy District Attorney Paulette Paccione said.

Then, at her first appearance in Torrance court on Feb. 5, she said she wanted to plead guilty "because she does her time like a lady," Paccione said.

Wearing a blue jail jumpsuit, the elderly, 5-foot-3 defendant walked into the courtroom in shackles and sat before the judge.

"I can't hear," she said as the proceeding began. "I have a hearing impairment."

Paccione moved in front of her and talked directly to her. Sokolov spoke loudly from the bench, asking several times "Can you hear me OK?"

In entering her plea, Thompson said she agreed to pay $1,427 to the the Children's Medical Group as reimbursement for her crime.

Before she left the courtroom, Thompson asked Sokolov if she could go to a state prison immediately. County jail, she said, was not a place she wanted to be.

Sokolov granted her request.

"Thank you," she said as she left. "God bless you."