Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Jewel thief says she sacrificed her freedom for a movie deal

Doris Payne stole diamonds and avoided police in London, Paris, Rome and Monaco. She came to Las Vegas to get caught.

The career jewel thief, now 75, says she walked into Neiman Marcus at the Fashion Show mall in July expecting to be arrested. Payne knew her photo had been circulated among staff, along with instructions to contact security upon sight.

Payne knew this because she had filched a $31,500 diamond ring from a Neiman Marcus in Palo Alto, Calif., six days earlier, and had been happily on the lam since.

"I knew exactly what I was doing," Payne said Wednesday in an interview at Clark County Detention Center.

What she was doing, Payne says, was selling her life story.

On parole in Colorado last year from her conviction for stealing a $40,000 ring, Payne says movie producers offered her $250,000 for the rights to her life story. She wanted to make the deal, but only in Las Vegas.

Like several other states, Colorado prohibits criminals from profiting from their crimes by selling their memoirs or film rights. In Nevada, no such law exists.

So Payne planned to fall into felony, all over again, hoping her Nevada arrest would garner publicity for the potential movie deal.

She got more than she had bargained for.

Metro Police arrested Payne not just for stealing the California ring, but also for stealing lingerie worth about $2,700 from the local Neiman Marcus. The unexpected, added charge could keep her in jail longer than she had planned.

In April, Payne pleaded no contest to two felony burglary charges, and she now faces eight to 20 years in prison - with the possibility of another 40 years if the judge determines she is a habitual felon.

That she is.

The West Virginia native's criminal record reportedly dates to 1949, and she is well known to authorities from the FBI to Interpol and Scotland Yard.

Ironically, Payne doesn't care much about wearing expensive jewelry. And she can't remember how many times she has been arrested for stealing it, though some published reports peg it at more than 30.

"I never thought of myself as the world's greatest jewel thief when I did what I did," she says. "I was mostly a loner. I was never lonely, but I wasn't swept away. I guess I was floating all of my life."

Payne has been incarcerated in six states and abroad, once in a French jail for stealing a $100,000 Cartier ring that was never recovered. The mother of two is known to have used more than 20 aliases and numerous false passports.

While some reports speculate Payne has been responsible for more than 400 thefts, she has never been caught in the act.

Her technique? Charm and fashion sense; blend in with the high-carat crowd with designer clothes and deadly poise.

"In a fine store they don't let you leave quick, they just keep on showing you. You take what you're going to get immediately. The sooner it's out of their sight, the quicker the person goes to sleep on what they brought out."

Arriving in Las Vegas last summer after the Palo Alto heist, Payne says she sold the stolen ring to a jeweler and caught a cab to Neiman Marcus with the $7,000 profit in her pocket, ready evidence for arrest.

"I had what I needed here," she said. "The door was already cracked and I could sell my story."

Shortly after her booking, movie producers Justin Berfield and Jason Felts arrived with a contract they hoped Payne would sign. About 20 other producers were also in town, Felts says, in search of her autograph.

Payne's signature on the contract will bring $150,000 and 2.5 percent of the movie's net profit, she says. Now she hopes to stay alive long enough to see it.

Her sentencing last week was postponed until June 15, at which time she may also be fined up to $20,000.

Sitting in a room Wednesday at the detention center, wearing county-issued inmate clothing and dark glasses, Payne contemplates the celebrity she sought and sold.

"I got what I came to get, and more."

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