An 80-year-old woman who authorities said spent decades as a international jewel thief faces more than five years in state prison after she was convicted of stealing an $8,900 diamond ring from a San Diego mall.
And a surveillance tape of her examining a department store jewelry counter may have prevented her from being released on bail while she awaits sentencing.
Doris Payne was convicted Wednesday of grand theft and burglary by a San Diego County jury in connection with the Jan. 2 theft of the ring from a Macy's department store. She later told detectives she sold the ring for $1,800, officials said.
"The defendant literally has spent her life doing nothing but stealing high-end jewelry," Pro said. "She said it herself. That's what she does, and that's what she did it in this case. It's a classic life of crime."
Payne, whose life was to be the subject of movie starring Halle Berry -- and who was being filmed by a documentary crew -- is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 9. She faces more than five years in state prison.
Born in 1930 in a small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, W. Va., Payne stole her first diamond in her late 20s, hoping to raise money to help her mother leave an abusive husband, according to an interview with the Los Angeles Times' DeeDee Correll.
She said she had no idea how many jewels she had stolen but that her career as a thief had spanned five decades. She said she honed her craft from New York and Las Vegas to London, Paris, Monte Carlo and Tokyo.
The targets were always the finest stores, she said, then she would blend in, tell a great story and take advantage of deep pockets in the clothing she wore.
In time, improvements in security technology caught up with Payne.
In 1999, she was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison after stealing a five-carat diamond ring from a Neiman Marcus in Denver.
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