Police: Jewel Thief, 86, At It Again

DUNWOODY, GA -- Police said an 86-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly trying to pocket a $2,000 necklace from a Dunwoody store.

Doris Payne is not your regular octogenarian, she's an accomplished and infamous international jewel thief.

Her latest troubles happened Tuesday when she went into the Don Maur department store at Perimeter Mall and allegedly put the necklace in her back pocket. She then tried to exit the store, according to a news release from the Dunwoody Police Department.

Payne has a long history of mischief, including being wanted in several states and even internationally for shoplifting and other offenses. Her exploits border on the comical -- she reportedly pulled off a heist in Switzerland and escaped "through cornfields" -- to the improbable -- she once claimed to have lifted a 10-carat, $545,000 diamond ring out of Monte Carlo in the early 1970s.

She has ripped off high-end shops across the world, including in Paris, Monaco and Tokyo, to name a few. So coming to metro Atlanta's high-end district during the holidays is not so far-fetched.

Payne tried to swipe a Lagos diamond necklace by concealing it "in her pocket before exiting the store without paying for the necklace," police said. "She was stopped and detained by loss prevention officers until she was arrested and taken into custody by Dunwoody Police Department Officers."

She was taken to the DeKalb County Jail, police said. She is expected to make a court appearance before the DeKalb County Magistrate Court.

Payne grew up in an abusive family in West Virginia and begin a life of crime shortly after reaching young adulthood.

In 2013, a documentary was done on her life, appropriately titled "The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne."

She has mug shots that show her at opposite ends of her life -- one taken in her youth, a spry woman with an innocent look. She also has other mugshots that display the toll and toil of age -- and a life of thievery.

As Patch previously reported, she was arrested in 2015 for allegedly trying to steal a pair of earrings from a Phipps Plaza store in Buckhead. Before that, she allegedly robbed a store in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

In September 2014, a warrant was issued for her arrest in the theft of a diamond ring from a Palm Desert, California jewelry store, Patch reported.

Through it all, she has maintained a public persona of being confidently detached. She told the Orange County Register in 2015, "I have no remorse. Why? I ain't killed nobody."

Image courtesy of DeKalb County Police