82-year-old veteran burglar gets 6 years in jail for latest heist

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82-year-old veteran burglar gets 6 years in jail for latest heist - latimes.com (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/10/82-year-old-career-crook-gets-6-years-in-jail-for-latest-heist.html)

"I don't think this will stop her from doing this again," Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Paulette Paccione said at the time of her arrest in September. "She's not really apologetic about it.

“This is her thing," he added.

Well of course it is, what else can she do at her age? I mean - this is all she knows, at this point.

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LiveLeak.com - Elderly Thief Played By Halle Berry In Upcoming Movie Gets Arrested For Stealing $1300 Coat (http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=50c_1264604321)

Now here's a career criminal with class. No, not for stealing the coat (although it was a $1300. Burberry from Saks Fifth Avenue), but for all the jewelry she's stolen over the years, with her switch and bait tactics at the counter. What she would do is go to a high end jewelry store, or the high end jewelry section of a high end department store, well dressed and courtly in appearance, and ask to see jewelry items. Eventually, after seeing so many, and with a variety of items out of the case and on display, she would palm one of them, and walk off before the clerk realized that anything was missing. She got this down to a science and lifted many expensive items over the years. But eventually she got caught most times that she got away with the scam, because she became known to detectives who connected her with the crime after viewing video.

You would have thought she'd have realized by now though that her face and M.O. are too well known, and switched to something new. Then again, I suppose she was trying something new when she stole the overcoat, although jewels, and not clothing, were always her bag.

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International Jewel Thief Doris Payne, 80, Sentenced to Five Years - ABC News (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/international-jewel-thief-doris-payne-80-sentenced-years/story?id=12883316#.UISHgWl27Kw)

Here she got caught again for stealing a $9000. ring from Macy's. But five years? That's too harsh for a non-violent crime. I'm certain she's a celebrity behind bars, and that inmates seek out her advice on improving their hustle.

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5 Year Sentence "Unfair": Jewel Thief | NBC 7 San Diego (http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Jailhouse-Interview-With-Jewel-Thief-115705584.html)

I would agree - five years is too long for a non-violent crime committed at her age, even with her past. But, since she has no strikes - no prior violent or serious felonies - in California she'll do just half of that, 2 1/2 years.