{"id":233707,"date":"2010-01-26T10:04:17","date_gmt":"2010-01-26T15:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a81159f9970b"},"modified":"2010-01-26T16:42:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-26T21:42:00","slug":"79-year-old-jewelry-thief-subject-of-halle-berry-movie-arrested-at-south-coast-plaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/233707","title":{"rendered":"79-year-old jewelry thief, subject of Halle Berry movie, arrested at South Coast Plaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lanow.doris\"<\/img><\/a>
<\/br>
\nIn the decades she spent honing her craft, Doris Payne employed classic
\nelegance, refined taste, Southern charm and a sleight of hand that
\ncould earn the envy of a talented magician.<\/p>\n

Like the best
\nillusionists, she had a knack for making things disappear. <\/p>\n

Payne’s life as
\nan international jewel thief is the subject of an upcoming movie, "Who Is Doris Payne?" starring Halle Berry. But given the latest events in
\nOrange County, the filmmakers may want to consider a new ending.<\/p>\n

The
\n79-year-old was arrested on a rainy Friday afternoon on suspicion of
\ngrand theft after security guards at the Saks Fifth Avenue store at
\nSouth Coast Plaza accused her of taking the tags off a Burberry trench
\ncoat valued at $1,300 and walking out without paying, said Costa Mesa
\nPolice Lt. Mark Manley.<\/p>\n

Now in custody without bail for a parole
\nviolation, Payne is expected to make her first court appearance today.
\nThough she has had high-end tastes, the allegation that she took a coat is
\na departure of sorts for Doris Marie Payne, who began life in 1930 in a
\nsmall coal-mining town of Slab Fork, W. Va.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In a 2008 story in The Times, Payne told a reporter she stole her
\nfirst diamond in her late 20s, hoping to raise money to help her mother
\nleave an abusive husband. From there, she never looked back.<\/p>\n

Payne
\nsaid she had no idea how many jewels she had stolen but that her career as a thief had spanned the globe from New York and Las Vegas to London, Paris,
\nMonte Carlo and Tokyo.<\/p>\n

The formula was simple, she said. Pick a
\nfine store and look like she belonged there. Tell a great story. And,
\nmake sure she had pockets, deep pockets, with whatever she wore.<\/p>\n

"A clerk would present her with at least five pieces of jewelry, usually
\nemeralds and diamonds. When she decided which to take, she would place
\nit on her finger, making sure the clerk saw it there," wrote Times staff writer DeeDee Correll. "Then she
\nwould begin her distractions, discussing other rings on the counter,
\nthen asking the clerk to bring more jewelry. Meanwhile, she would slip
\nthe ring from one hand to the other. ‘I’m going to make sure he sees
\nthis hand I had it on is naked.’ "<\/p>\n

Eventually, improvements in security, helped by technology, caught up with Payne.<\/p>\n

In
\n1999, she was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison after
\nstealing a 5-carat diamond ring from a Neiman Marcus in Denver.<\/p>\n

While
\non parole in Colorado in 2005, she visited other states, taking an $8,500
\nring in Nevada and a $31,500 three-stone diamond ring with a platinum
\nband from a Neiman Marcus in Palo Alto, The Times reported. When police
\ninterviewed her, Payne admitted stealing the ring, giving them her
\noccupation as "jewel thief."<\/p>\n

She was eventually sentenced to two
\nto five years for pawning the stolen Palo Alto ring in Las Vegas, as
\nwell as stealing a ring in Nevada.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 2008, Payne
\ncompleted her prison sentence in Colorado and returned to California,
\nwhere she was released on parole until her arrest.<\/p>\n

— Andrew Blankstein\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Photo:
\nDoris Payne is shown during her incarceration in the Denver Women’s
\nCorrectional Facility. She is now being held at the Orange County Jail.
\nCredit: Nathan W. Armes \/ For The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\nMore breaking news in L.A. Now:<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Magic mushroom’ growing operation found in Lake Los Angeles home; 2 arrested<\/a><\/p>\n

Storm could bring more snow and closures to mountains <\/a><\/p>\n

Former owners of medical center to pay $10-million settlement in alleged Medicare fraud scheme<\/a><\/p>\n

Should California send prisoners to Mexico? Schwarzenegger floats idea. Do you agree?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the decades she spent honing her craft, Doris Payne employed classic elegance, refined taste, Southern charm and a sleight of hand that could earn the envy of a talented magician. Like the best illusionists, she had a knack for making things disappear. Payne’s life as an international jewel thief is the subject of an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}