ATLANTA—Doris Payne exudes a seemingly effortless elegance, her white hair neatly smoothed back and gold hoops dangling from her ears. She speaks calmly and deliberately, inspiring the kind of trust that would ease any jewelry store employee eager to make a high-dollar sale.
And that’s exactly how authorities say the 85-year-old has managed to walk off with pricey jewels in countless thefts around the world over six decades.
Asked about her exploits, she speaks in broad terms laced with insinuation, refusing to give specifics of how she selects a target or what she says to them.
“I don’t dictate what happens when I walk in the store. The people in charge dictate what happens with me when I walk in the store,” Payne said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t tell a person in the store I want to see something that costs $10,000. They make those decisions based on how I present myself and how I look.”
Asked about jewelry she’s said to have stolen, Payne interrupts the question.
“I’ve never, ever walked out of a jewelry store with a piece of stolen merchandise in my purse, in my pocket,” she said. “Never. I’ve never, ever concealed. Never.”
Before she can answer a question about allegations that she sometimes walks out of a store with an expensive sparkler on her finger or wrist, her lawyer stops her, telling her not to answer.
