80-year-old jewel thief convicted in San Diego heist

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 5:54 p.m.

Doris Payne, 79, listens during her preliminary hearing Thursday in San Diego Superior Court on jewel theft charges. The judge found enough evidence to order her to stand trial.

 

SAN DIEGO — An 80-year-old woman who has been described as an international jewel thief with a criminal history that spans five decades was convicted Wednesday of felony charges for stealing a ring from a local Macy’s store last year.

A jury found Doris Payne of Long Beach guilty of burglary and grand theft, stemming from the heist at Fashion Valley mall.

She is expected to be sentenced Feb. 9 in San Diego Superior Court. Prosecutors have said she could be sent to prison for up to five years and eight months.

Dozens of news articles note Payne’s long career as a shoplifter who would casually walk away from high-end stores with stolen goods. She has been arrested in at least five states and served several prison stints.

Prosecutor John Pro told the jury that Payne walked up to the fine jewelry counter at Macy’s on Jan. 2, 2010, identified herself to a saleswoman as “Audrey” and said she was looking to buy a gift for her daughter.

She was able to distract the saleswoman and slip away with the $8,900 diamond ring, the prosecutor said. Later, she told a detective she sold the ring for $1,800.

Payne’s lawyer, Gretchen von Helms, argued that Payne was not at Fashion Valley that day and that she not the woman in surveillance footage recorded in the store.

Von Helms said witness identifications of her client were “tainted” when they viewed photos and news articles featuring Payne on the Internet.

According to published reports, Payne’s criminal exploits took her from West Virginia, where she was born, to Europe and beyond. A West Hollywood film crew has been gathering footage about Payne’s life for an upcoming documentary and there’s talk of a feature film in the works starring Halle Berry.

 

 

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SAN DIEGO — When you think of an international jewel thief, you don’t think of 79-year-old Doris Payne.

News articles detail her long criminal career. She’s been arrested in at least five states and served several prison stints.

Payne told one reporter she had given up her five-decade shoplifting career. Even so, she was in a San Diego court this week on a jewelry theft charge.

Police say she stole an $8,600 diamond ring from Macy’s at the Fashion Valley mall in January. She has pleaded not guilty.

Payne, who lives in Long Beach, was in San Diego County on Thursday for a Superior Court hearing. A West Hollywood film crew followed her around to gather footage for a documentary about her life.

“She’s a fascinating character,” said Matthew Pond, one of the project’s producers. “Doris is one of these people who never really stopped to think about the rules and whether they should apply to her. She just really does her own thing.”

Published reports say Payne’s illegal exploits took her from West Virginia, where she was born in 1930, to Europe and beyond. Always dressed-to-impress, she never resorted to violence in her heists. Instead, she distracted sales clerks at high-end stores before casually walking away with the goods.

She picked some of her targets by reading about them in Town & Country magazine, according to courtroom testimony.

Her lifestyle drew a lot of attention — first from police, then the public. There’s talk of a Hollywood feature film starring Halle Berry.

“It’s a feel good family crime story,” Pond said.

Judge Leo Valentine Jr. determined at Payne’s preliminary hearing Thursday that she should stand trial on commercial burglary and grand theft charges.

She faces five years and eight months in prison.

Valentine ordered Payne to stay away from all Macy’s stores while her case is pending. Deputy District Attorney Kristie Nikoletich made the request after learning Payne may have recently been at a Macy’s in Arizona.

“I have been there,” Payne told a reporter later, gesturing toward her beige sleeveless shirt dress. “I bought this there. For this court appearance.”

Published reports say Payne was given a 12-year sentence for stealing a five-carat diamond ring from a Neiman Marcus in Denver. In 2005, she stole an $8,500 ring in Nevada and a $31,500 ring in Palo Alto, while on parole.

Payne was in an Orange County jail in late January when a San Diego police detective interviewed her about the Macy’s incident. She had been arrested on suspicion of stealing a $1,300 Burberry trench coat from a Saks Fifth Avenue in Costa Mesa. She pleaded guilty to grand theft in April and was placed on probation.

She is out of custody on bond in connection with the San Diego case.

Detective Thomas Jacques said he told Payne he saw her in surveillance video recorded Jan. 2 in the Macy’s fine jewelry department. He said she tried on a ring, switched it from one hand to the other, then walked away.

The detective testified that Payne was in the video but wouldn’t admit “straight up” to taking the pear-shaped sparkler.

Defense attorney Gretchen von Helms argued unsuccessfully that the identifications of Payne by two store employees should be thrown out because they were “tainted” by stories and photos of Payne that they viewed online.

But the judge said the identifications were buoyed by the detective’s testimony that Payne said she sold the bauble for $1,800 to a jeweler she found in the phone book.

A store sales manager and longtime Macy’s employee is not a fan of Payne’s. She testified that the store put her on probation after the theft.