86-year-old jewel thief is freed from jail

Doris Payne has probation revoked, charges dropped.

Doris Payne, the 86-yearold woman who has stolen about $2 million in jewelry over the past six decades and has reflected on her crimes in a documentary, is a free woman again.

Payne was arrested at a Walmart in Chamblee in July after she allegedly took $86.22 in merchandise from the pharmacy, electronics and grocery departments, according to Chamblee police.

At the time, Payne was on 120 days of house arrest, which was part of her sentence in March for admittedly stealing a necklace from Von Maur at Perimeter Mall in 2016. She also was sentenced to three years of probation and was banned from shopping in any mall in DeKalb County.

But Friday, she walked out of jail after a DeKalb Superior Court judge revoked her probation and threw out the latest shoplifting charge against Payne, according to the DeKalb sheriff ’s office and Payne’s attorney.

“There was not enough new evidence on the new arrest,” the attorney, Marissa Goldberg, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She’s free.”

Over the years, Payne has dressed in fine clothes with deep pockets, charmed sales workers at high-end department stores, distracted them and slipped out with expensive jewelry, The AJC previously reported.

She was the subject of a 2013 documentary, “The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne,” that detailed how her theft habits began when she was in her 20s.