Hearing for Self-Proclaimed Jewel Thief Canceled: She's Still Locked Up in Banning

A bail hearing was canceled Friday for a prolific 83-year-old jewel thief accused of stealing a $22,500 diamond ring from a Palm Desert store because her attorneys didn't appear or file court documents.

The hearing for Doris Marie Payne, who allegedly swiped the 3.5-carat ring from El Paseo Jewelers on Oct. 21, would have determined if money Payne
wants to use for her $65,000 bail is legal tender or obtained illegally.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Johnson confirmed a Feb. 3 trial readiness conference and ordered Payne back on that date. He said if Payne's attorneys wanted to file motions, they would be heard then.

Payne faces up to six years in prison if convicted of one felony count each of grand theft and burglary.

At the time of the alleged ring theft, Payne had been out of prison for about three months and was living in a Riverside motel while on probation for felony theft in a Los Angeles case.

Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Adan Yamaguchi wrote in a declaration in support of an arrest warrant that Payne would "typically charm the sales associate and ask to see multiple items at once, causing the sales associate to forget how many items they are showing."

On Oct. 21, Payne entered El Paseo Jewelers, introduced herself as "Audrey" and was shown about a dozen necklaces, he said, adding that she left without buying anything but returned an hour later and was shown some rings.

Payne told the employee she would come back the next day with a $12,000 cashier's check from Bank of America to buy some pieces, but the next day, employees realized the ring was missing, according to Yamaguchi.

Using images captured Oct. 18 in Saks Fifth Avenue in Palm Desert, deputies identified the thief as Payne, and a store security guard recognized her "from the company's run-in with Payne in 2010," when she was arrested for theft, Yamaguchi wrote.

The ring she allegedly stole in Palm Desert was found by police on Nov. 6 - in Palm Desert, at a second-hand jewelry dealer.

In "The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne," which premiered in April at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, Payne says her "methodology of stealing jewelry took me all over the world . . . New York, Milan, Paris, Rome, London."

Reported by City News Service