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Witness says she saw Ryder cutting tags
From Thelma Gutierrez
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A former Saks Fifth Avenue store investigator testified Wednesday that she saw actress Winona Ryder using scissors to cut large anti-theft sensor tags off merchandise, leaving large holes in the items. When security personnel at the Beverly Hills store confronted Ryder, her explanations were inconsistent, testified Colleen Rainey, former investigator for the Saks theft and loss department. Rainey told the court that Ryder told her she was taking the items -- which included a $750 blouse and a $540 purse -- to research a role for a film called "Shopgirl." But when Los Angeles police arrived, Rainey heard the actress tell them it was for a movie called "White Jazz." The testimony came on the third day of the actress' sensational shoplifting trial and followed testimony from the store's chief security officer, Kenneth Evans, that he saw Ryder act suspiciously on surveillance cameras. According to the prosecution, the total price of the merchandise Ryder allegedly tried to steal December 12 was $5,560.40. Ryder, 31, is charged with felony grand theft, burglary and vandalism. She could be sentenced to up to three years in prison on each count if convicted. Rainey said Ryder apologized before her arrest, telling authorities she should have notified the store about the film role research. One saleswoman testified Wednesday that Ryder asked to be taken to a more private fitting room to try on her items, so she took the actress to an area of fitting rooms behind a curtain. It was then that Rainey, who had been watching the security cameras with Evans, came down to see for herself what Ryder was doing. Rainey said she went behind the curtain and saw Ryder through the slats of the fitting room door kneeling down with the merchandise laid out around her. Ryder took orange-handled scissors out of her purse, Rainey said, and cut the bulky sensor tags, which cannot be pried apart by hand, off the clothes. Prosecutors then held up a cream-colored Marc Jacobs thermal blouse, worth $760, with a visible hole on the left side at the hem where the sensor tag had been. They also displayed a white sleeveless Yves St. Laurent blouse, worth $750, also with a hole at the bottom. Ryder had allegedly taken the items with her into the dressing room. For smaller items like socks and hair accessories, Rainey said she saw Ryder take tissue paper out of her bag and carefully wrap them as if they had just been purchased and packed by a salesman. The testimony caused Ryder to raise her eyebrows and make expressions of surprise. Earlier, Evans denied telling a friend he was going to "get" Ryder after defense attorney Mark Geragos suggested he was out to "nail" the actress. "Did you tell your friend you were going to get her one way or another?" Geragos asked. "Absolutely not," Evans replied. Ryder also took notes and made eye contact with jurors throughout the day, frequently looking back at supporters in the courtroom. In a security camera tape shown in court Tuesday, Ryder was seen walking out of the store with more than 20 items that prosecutors said she stuffed into shopping bags in a fitting room. Ryder is not seen on tape purchasing most of the items confiscated by security guards. A second saleswoman testified Ryder came out of the fitting room with just three items, having entered the room with much more. The woman said Ryder never told her whether someone else would be paying for the merchandise, or that she would pay for it later, as celebrities are allowed to do under store policy. Evans said Tuesday that Saks offers a special program for VIPs and movie studios, allowing such clients to remove merchandise from the store and either purchase them or return them later. Ryder was not a member of the special program, he said. He also said in previous testimony that he found four sensor tags allegedly cut by Ryder -- two matching handbags in her possession, the third matching a hair accessory, and the fourth matching an unidentified item she allegedly took. The four tags, he said, were found in a coat on a rack of jackets. Rainey is due to be cross-examined Thursday. The trial is expected to last about a week.
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