80-Year-Old Jewel Thief Headed For Prison

SAN DIEGO (CBS) —  An elderly jewel thief who last year stole a ring valued at $8,900 from a Southland Macy's store was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison.

KNX 1070's Tom Reopelle reports Judge Frank Brown threw the book at 80-year-old Doris Payne, who was convicted in January of burglary and grand theft.

Deputy District Attorney John Pro said Payne — who has been to prison twice — has a significant criminal history, mostly theft related.

Pro said the defendant walked out of the store with the ring on Jan. 2, 2010, when a clerk with whom she had been talking for about 45 minutes turned her back.

Payne testified that it was indeed her on Macy's surveillance video in the store that day, but said authorities couldn't prove that she stole the ring.

The defendant told a detective that she sold the ring in question for $1,800 to a jeweler she looked up in the phone book, Pro said.

Defense attorney Gretchen von Helms said identifications of Payne by witnesses were tainted because of photos of the defendant they had seen on the Internet.

Von Helms also told jurors that the clerk dealing with Payne was distracted by trying to make a sale, and argued there was no evidence that the ring in question ever left the store.

Payne was convicted in 1999 for stealing a ring from a Neiman Marcus store in Denver and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 2005, the defendant stole an $8,500 ring in Nevada and a $31,500 ring in Palo Alto, while on parole.

She was in an Orange County jail after pleading guilty to stealing a $1,300 Burberry trench coat from a Saks Fifth Avenue in Costa Mesa when she was interviewed about the ring theft in San Diego.

Payne is also wanted in Michigan for a retail theft from 1998, according to prosecutors in San Diego.

A West Hollywood film crew has been in San Diego filming a documentary about Payne's life.

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