The 86-year-old grandmother imprisoned in Walmart is the legendary jewel thief Doris Payne.

On July 19, Doris Payne, an 86-year-old woman, was arrested for stealing items worth $86.22 from a Walmart in Georgia.

In the photograph published in the media, a woman with candid hair, bad hairstyle, and a face off was seen. Doris Payne looked very far from the image of that elegant and seductive woman who, decades ago, managed to trick Cartier's vendors in Monte Carlo into a hairy jewel in her hands without anyone noticing.

La que parecía una desamparada mujer mayor, una ladrona ocasional refundida en los mostradores de Walmart, no era otra que una legendaria ladrona de joyas cuyos expedientes judiciales se remontan a 1966 y en cuyo récord aparece haber robado un diamante con un precio estrambótico de seis ceros.

When John Kennedy, President of the Jewelers' Security Alliance, saw photos of the thief imprisoned in Georgia circulating immediately, Doris Payne was immediately recognized.

“ Era ella, la que en otra época fuera una mujer encantadora, de maneras gentiles y buena ropa. La misma que con su estrategia de hacer que las joyeras dispusieran ante ella una gran cantidad de piezas siempre logró quedarse con valiosos objetos”, le dijo Kennedy a Univision, indignado al reconocerla en las noticias.

Kennedy had in front of him in the news a real old enemy: "we in JSA first identified Doris Payne in 1970, after a series of crimes caused us to set off alarms on her."

In fact, the old lady who seemed to have failed her tricks in a simple supermarket robbery last Wednesday was a real celebrity among the world diamond thieves and bracelets. Recognizable not only to Kennedy and his agency, but to many cinephiles who knew their story hand in hand with the documentary 'the life and Crimes of Doris Payne', released in 2013.

Sí, porque como si se tratara de los grandes bandidos que han pasado a la historia como Frank William Abagnale (que inspiró ‘Catch Me If You Can’) o Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (interpretado en el cine por Bruce Willis en ‘The Jackal’), Doris Payne también tiene su propia película. Alguna vez incluso hasta la propia Halle Berry se vio tentada a encarnar su personaje en otro film que nunca se llevó a acabo.

At the Walmart-while he put essential items between his wallet-it was not the first time that the cunning devotee of the jewels had been caught.

Como lo cuenta en detalle el documental, en 2013 Doris Payne fue condenada a 5 años de prisión a la edad de 82 años. Su encierro no duró más que dos años y medio. Su pena fue rebajada a la mitad por buen comportamiento.

Released and given her age, the judges and lawyers who had been dealing with her for almost five decades believed that the woman would have learned her lesson and that she would leave forever that irrepressible, almost pleasant drive to go to an expensive jewelry store and prove that she can always get away with it.

Se equivocaban todos. Doris Payne lo vaticinaba entre carcajadas en el mismo documental: “No me arrepiento de haber robado ninguna de las joyas, de lo único que me arrepiento es de que me hayan atrapado”. Lo volvería hacer con un collar de 2,000 dólares en Atlanta. Después y como evidencia de su precaria situación, unos objetos anodinos en el supermercado.

Kennedy is not surprised that she has again been found in flagrante: "she is cunning, has a good look and has practice. As she grew old, she aroused less suspicion among jewelry dealers, because, of course, old women are very rarely thieves. She also has something very particular, which is that she's never stopped stealing. Most jewelry thieves either end up dead or imprisoned, but she has always managed to sneak away. "

The first time Doris Payne stole was when she was very young, when she came in to see some clocks on a counter and the shop owner scolded the employee for showing jewelry to a colored girl. In the midst of the confusion, Payne left the store without returning the watch the seller had put on his arm.

Quizás desde entonces, y a manera de revancha, la mujer que se estima le robó a los grandes joyeros 2 millones de dólares ha encontrado un motivo en su quehacer.

This time, however, Doris Payne has not stolen jewelry, stolen things to eat and survive, and that may be the only exemplary lesson he will receive.

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