82-year-old woman charged with multiple burglaries

TORRANCE, Calif. (KABC) -- An 82-year-old woman was charged on Tuesday with multiple counts of commercial burglary for allegedly stealing money from several South Bay doctors' offices. Torrance police say she is an ex-con with a history of pulling jobs going back to 1955.

Prosecutors accuse Doris Ann Gamble, also known as Doris Thompson, of stealing about $17,000 from various doctors' offices between March and August by hiding out until closing time, and then pilfering from the cash drawers.

Elderly and frail, she looks like someone who would be a target for burglaries, not the one committing them. But she is a feisty woman who was not afraid to speak her mind. With a hearing aid in court, she looked at media cameras and wondered what the fuss was.

"Why do they film that, I'm not newsworthy. I am an 82-year-old lady who does burglary, why is that newsworthy," she said to the judge.

Police say she turned up on surveillance video, and a detective noticed her distinctive hairstyle from a previous case. The crimes began just six months after Thompson had been released from prison on an earlier case. Her rap sheet shows arrests from Orange County to Beverly Hills, but she has never used a gun. She has used 25 different aliases.

Thompson was arrested last Thursday at an El Segundo motel. She was charged with seven counts of second-degree commercial burglary and one count of attempted commercial burglary.

As she left court, she made a request for donations so she could buy snacks while she's behind bars.

Police say they have never been contacted by any family members. It appears that Thompson does not have a home and usually stays at motels.

Thompson's bail was set at $260,000. If convicted, she faces more than five years in county jail.

Get more Los Angeles News »

burglary, arrest, los angeles news, miriam hernandez

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•