Doris Payne, who has stolen about $2 million worth of jewelry over the last six decades and reflected on her crimes in a documentary, is in trouble again.
Payne, 86, was arrested Tuesday at the Von Maur department store inside Perimeter Mall after she allegedly stole a diamond necklace, Dunwoody police said Wednesday in an incident report.
RELATED: Octogenarian jewelry thief Doris Payne arrested again in Atlanta
Police received a call about the theft just before 5:15 p.m.
“In this incident, Payne concealed a $2,000 necklace in her back pocket and attempted to exit the store,” Dunwoody police spokesman Mark Stevens said.
Being arrested is nothing new for Payne. Her pattern has been to serve her time, get out for good behavior and return to her work.
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“Payne has an extensive history as a jewelry thief and has been mentioned in a documentary on jewelry thieves,” Stevens said.
The 2013 documentary, "The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne," depicted Payne as a career criminal who began when she was in her 20s. Over the years, Payne has dressed in fine clothes with deep pockets, charmed sales workers at high-end department stores, distracted and slipped out with expensive jewelry, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Last October, she was arrested in Atlanta after she allegedly took a pair of $690 Christian Dior earrings from Saks Fifth Avenue at Phipps Plaza.
RELATED: Jewelry thief Doris Payne's 2015 arrest at Saks Fifth Avenue Atlanta
At the time, Payne was wanted in North Carolina after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said she stole a $33,000 David Yurman engagement ring from a local mall. She still has not been arrested in connection with that incident, police said.
Payne is in the DeKalb County Jail on a charge of theft by shoplifting, according to records.
“I don’t have any regrets about stealing jewelry,” she said in the documentary. “I regret getting caught.”
— Staff writer Nedra Rhone contributed to this story.
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