By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Police: Notorious 86-year-old jewel thief strikes again
Woman has long history of thefts
W theif
In this Jan. 11, 2016 file photo, Doris Payne poses for a photo in Atlanta. Police just outside Atlanta say a notorious 86-year-old jewel thief has struck again. Dunwoody, Ga., police say Payne was arrested Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, at a Von Maur department store where police report she put a $2,000 necklace in her back pocket and tried to leave the store. - photo by Associated Press
ATLANTA — An 86-year-old jewel thief who has kept jewelry sellers on their toes since the 1970s has struck again, police say - this time by slipping a $2,000 diamond necklace into her pocket.Doris Payne, who has been the subject of a documentary and casually said during an Associated Press interview earlier this year that "I was a thief," was arrested Tuesday at a Von Maur department store outside Atlanta.Payne was arrested after she put the necklace in her back pocket and tried to leave the store, Dunwoody police spokesman Mark Stevens said in an email. She faces a shoplifting charge.Online jail records did not show any bond information, and it wasn't clear whether Payne had an attorney who could comment.Attorney Shawn McCullers, who represented her last year when she was accused of pocketing a $690 pair of earrings from a Saks Fifth Avenue department store at a mall in Atlanta's upscale Buckhead neighborhood, said in an email Wednesday that he was not currently representing her in the latest arrest.Authorities have said Payne has lifted pricey baubles from countless jewelry stores around the world in an illicit career that has spanned six decades. The legend of Payne's alleged thefts have long fascinated the public and media, with countless news stories and a 2013 documentary film, "The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne," detailing her feats.When asked about her exploits in the interview with The Associated Press earlier this year, she said simply: "I was a thief."Court papers in Atlanta reference six cases prior to the alleged theft last year, mostly in southern California, dating to 1999.Payne was raised in West Virginia and moved with her family to Ohio when she was a teenager.Authorities have said she has used at least 22 aliases over the years and probably got away more often than she was caught, though she has done several stints in prison.
Sign up for the Herald's free e-newsletter