Winona Ryder Returns To Court

The security chief at the posh clothing store where actress Winona Ryder was arrested on shoplifting charges testified Thursday he mistook the movie star for a homeless person when he first saw her on a surveillance camera.

As the preliminary hearing in the highly publicized case resumed, Kenneth Evans, the security manager at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, also said six anti-theft sensor tags that had been cut off of merchandise were found concealed in the store the day after Ryder's arrest last December.

Evans testified he found four of the tags stuffed in the pockets of a designer coat on display in the store, three of them still bearing material and cut-out marks that matched two handbags and a hair bow that had been found in Ryder's possession when she was arrested.

He said the two other sensor tags turned up in the chair padding of a fitting room that the "Girl, Interrupted" star had used during her ill-fated shopping spree at the Wilshire Avenue store.

Ryder appeared with her right arm in a sling for the hearing, which was interrupted on Monday after she returned from a lunch break and was struck in the elbow, apparently by a TV camera, as she made her way through a crush of photographers and camera crews outside the courtroom.

Her attorney, Mark Geragos, later said the Oscar-nominated actress had fractured her arm, which was still sensitive from a previous injury. Her arm on Thursday appeared to be bandaged but not in a cast.

Ryder, 30, has pleaded innocent to shoplifting and drug possession charges stemming from her Dec. 12 arrest. The petite, dark-haired star, who has remained free on bail, was accused of trying to steal clothes, handbags and hair accessories worth about $4,800.

The drug charges relate to an unmarked bottle of painkillers for which she allegedly did not have a prescription. Geragos has said the painkillers were prescribed to her and that entire incident resulted from a "misunderstanding."

A judge will decide after this week's proceedings whether prosecutors have enough evidence for Ryder to stand trial.

The store security chief testified that when he first noticed Ryder on store video cameras, "I thought she was a homeless person." A few minutes later, other store staff thought they recognized the actress.

In questioning Evans, Geragos suggested security personnel had targeted the film star.

"You knew from Day One that it was Winona Ryder, and you wanted to bust her for shoplifting, didn't you?" her lawyer asked. "No," replied Evans.

Evans testified that when Ryder was stopped by security staff after leaving the store, she had no receipts for several of the 21 items recovered.

Geragos showed the judge two receipts totaling some $3,675 for a pair of designer shoes, a leather jacket and two blouses that he said Ryder had bought and paid for in the store during that visit. But Evans said the receipts did not correspond to many of the items in Ryder's possession at the time of her arrest.