Notorious jewel thief may have struck again

Doris Payne, 84, is a convicted international jewelry thief who has spent time in prison and police suspect she may be at it again.

Jewelry stores in Charlotte, North Carolina, are on high alert after police sent out a warning, believing the well-known thief stole a $33,000 engagement ring from the David Yurman store inside upscale Southpark mall.

Payne is a notorious thief who has successfully swiped jewels in Greece, Switzerland, Britain and France. She’s so well-known that Halle Berry was once set to star in a movie about her life. Payne was most recently taken into police custody in September 2013 after she stole a diamond ring at a Jewelry store on El Paseo in Palm Desert, California. She was released from custody in October.

“She will get caught, I don’t know if she steals to get caught or if she wants to prove to everybody that she can still do it, but she is great at what she does she can manipulate you and take the ring out of your store,” said Raju Mehta, general manager of El Paseo Jewelers. Mehta was helping Payne when she stole the ring. “We stared with the ring and while she was like this is too much, this is too less, put this one away, put that one away, and in the mean time she slipped the ring in he blouse,” said Mehta.

In the email alert to Charlotte stores, police describe Payne as using the “slight of hand tactic”, saying once the employee is distracted she quickly conceals the item and walks out. The email goes on to say, “She is very good. She fooled the manager at David Yurman.”

According to police Payne, who may have been using the alias Amy Dillard, was spotted first by a Tiffany & Co. employee who tried to warn workers at the nearby David Yurman store, but it was too late.

Diamonds Direct, a jewelry store across from the mall got the alert and posted her picture throughout their showroom so staffers and security would know who to watch out for.

The theft happened on July eleventh and Charlotte Mecklenburg police aren’t commenting on any leads.

“She is going to continue doing it, every time she is out and she gets a chance she is going to keep doing it, it is in her blood,” said Mehta.

According to the police report, the ring she reportedly swiped is described as having multiple small diamonds in a halo and a platinum band that goes over the ring in a crossover fashion.