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raffi
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Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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 Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:35 am Post subject: 77 year old woman talks about her 5 decade career as a jewel thief |
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| Quote: | Doris Payne never carried a gun. She never smashed a window or broke into a safe to take what she wanted. She just crossed her pantyhosed legs and murmured about the filigree ring under the glass. She wondered aloud about matching earrings. She would promise to return in 45 minutes, and only after Payne wafted away in her flowered dress would the clerk count the rings and come up short.
But the decades passed, and the job grew more difficult. Her face became familiar. Information about her raced through the Internet and over fax machines. On the last day of Payne's career, security guards quietly watched her every move on television screens as she walked through Neiman Marcus. When she made her move, they made theirs.
"Thirty or forty years ago, she could get away with it a little more," said FBI supervisory special agent Paul Graupmann, who dealt with Payne in the 1980s.
At 77 and serving out a sentence in Denver after two years in a Nevada prison, Payne now must settle for sharing the story of how she managed her prolific career for five decades.
"I had lots of fun," Payne said. "I did." She was a rarity in a business known for its thuggery, in which criminals smash store windows or slice the tires of traveling salespeople carrying gems so they can attack them on deserted roads. Payne used her wits and smooth tongue.
"We don't see a lot of criminals like Doris Payne," said John Kennedy, president of the Jewelers' Security Alliance.
Payne grew up in the coal-mining town of Slab Fork, W.Va., her imagination fueled by "Gone With the Wind" and its depictions of women she would impersonate for the rest of her life. In her mother's dresses and hats, she would roam the house, clicking her heels, talking to Rhett Butler.
"I think that movie contributed as much to what I became as anything else in my life," Payne said.
When she was 13, she was trying on watches at a local store when a white customer entered. The owner dismissed Payne, who is black, and she realized she could walk out with the merchandise. "I could cause this man, the white man, to forget."
For the next several years, Payne said, she practiced lifting jewelry but never stole anything, though her son, Ronald, said in an interview that his mother did keep the goods during that time.
Payne said she stole her first diamond at age 27, hoping to raise money to help her mother leave an abusive husband. She remembers her mother's reaction: "She said, 'Doris, don't you know that's stealing?' "
"I'm not stealing, because I'm just going to keep what they let me have," she replied.
Payne's formula was simple: Pick a fine store and look like she belonged there.
"I knew how to dress," said Payne, who still cuts an elegant figure even in prison greens and with her white hair brushed straight back. "I never did like ruffles and frills. I just like a simple-cut fine material that moves when I move."
Whatever she wore, she added, always had pockets. Deep pockets.
The rest, she said, fell into place. A clerk would present her with at least five pieces of jewelry, usually emeralds and diamonds. When she decided which to take, she would place it on her finger, making sure the clerk saw it there.
Then she would begin her distractions, discussing other rings on the counter, then asking the clerk to bring more jewelry. Meanwhile, she would slip the ring from one hand to the other. "I'm going to make sure he sees this hand I had it on is naked."
Payne says she practiced her trade all over the world, London to Paris to Tokyo. Though Payne claims she was never caught in the act, she was frequently arrested days or weeks later -- and has been convicted of grand theft at least nine times in the U.S.
She says she has no idea how many jewels she stole in her lifetime.
"They were not that great in number. They were great in value." |
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TNLakersFanInLA
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Joined: 21 Nov 2004
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Location: Chattanooga, TN
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:03 am Post subject: |
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She Got Game
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C M B
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Joined: 15 Nov 2006
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Location: Prarie & Manchester, high above the western sideline
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:14 am Post subject: |
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Loser. What a waste.
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| Sister Golden Hair wrote: | LAMAR ODOM is an anagram for ... DOOM ALARM
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Lakers For Life
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Joined: 30 Oct 2007
Posts: 12609
Location: Not "at all" LMAO!
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:39 am Post subject: |
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| You have to be an idiot to lose track of the valuable pieces of jewelery you're handing out on the spot. |
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Laker_Behemoth
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Joined: 06 Jul 2008
Posts: 3012
Location: East Coast
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:48 am Post subject: |
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| Good for her. Get 'em |
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999
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Joined: 19 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 12:34 pm Post subject: |
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| 9 times of GRand theft? what does it take to get a life sentence... what a waste of tax dollars |
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REPPIN 818
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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| C M B wrote: | | Loser. What a waste. |
Am I the only one who thinks this Payne lady is totally badass? |
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raffi
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Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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| REPPIN 818 wrote: | | C M B wrote: | | Loser. What a waste. |
Am I the only one who thinks this Payne lady is totally badass? |
You must have a pretty cool grandma  |
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PROPHET
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Joined: 05 Jul 2001
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Location: Oxnard, CA - The Nard
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:27 am Post subject: |
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That's a pretty good story.. Just last week this 75 year old lady was arrested in my area for drug sales.. Gun toting grandma!!
Detectives served a search warrant at the home at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and said they found about 1 ounce of cocaine, 1 ounces of methamphetamine, a .22-caliber revolver and a 9mm handgun with two 30-round magazines.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jul/04/woman-75-arrested-illegal-drug-sales/ |
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prisma8slg
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Joined: 02 Jul 2005
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Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:26 am Post subject: |
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that's a lot of jewelry
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Shockerx8
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Technically she didnt steal hahah shes funny, when you take something that isnt yours thats stealing. Thats like me giving someone my phone so they can call someone and they take off with it, just because i hand it to you doesnt mean its yours. Sneaky thiefs |
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C M B
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Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Posts: 19866
Location: Prarie & Manchester, high above the western sideline
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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| REPPIN 818 wrote: | | C M B wrote: | | Loser. What a waste. |
Am I the only one who thinks this Payne lady is totally badass? |
If stealing pretty rocks and spending a lot of time in jail and then lying about some of it in an interview is badass, then this lady is James (bleep) Dean.
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| Sister Golden Hair wrote: | LAMAR ODOM is an anagram for ... DOOM ALARM
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