BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Actress Winona Ryder cut security tags off merchandise at a luxury department store, then hid the tags in the store and walked out without paying, according to two security guards who testified Wednesday.

"She reached into her handbag and grabbed a pair of scissors," said Colleen Rainey, a loss prevention investigator with the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue. "That's when she started to cut sensor tags off of the merchandise."

Ryder, 31, glared at Rainey and shook her head as the former security guard described what she claimed to have seen while peering through slats in a dressing room door.

"She checked the sensor tags and maneuvered them around the fabric," said Rainey, holding up a black leather Dolce & Gabbana bag that Ryder is accused of stealing. "She kind of cut around the tag."

The testimony came on the third day of Ryder's shoplifting trial.

Ryder, star of such films as "The Age of Innocence" and the recent Adam Sandler vehicle "Mr. Deeds," is charged with grand larceny, burglary and vandalism in connection with the alleged Dec. 12, 2001, shoplifting spree. Prosecutors say she stole $5,560.40 in merchandise. Each felony count carries a maximum sentence of three years.

The actress was successful in removing security tags from the Dolce & Gabbana handbag as well as a black Natori bag, but couldn't get them off two other bags, a blue Marc Jacobs purse and a blue Calvin Klein handbag, Rainey testified.

"Because she caught her finger, she bled on the bag," said Rainey, pointing out two stains on the Calvin Klein handbag.

Ryder later tried to hide the security tags throughout the store, according to another security guard. In a surveillance video played for the jury, Ryder can be seen reaching from her own pocket into a Gucci coat in the store's luxury boutique. The move, according to head security guard Kenneth Evans, was an attempt to dispose of the removed security tags.

But when pressed by Ryder's defense attorney, Evans testified that when he went to retrieve the Gucci coat, it was gone.

Evans testified Tuesday about four tags he did find hidden away in the Chanel section of the store. Some of the tags contained swatches of fabric that were matched to handbags and a hair bow Ryder had in her possession, he said.

Another video, which shows Ryder wandering about the store as bags she is carrying appear to grow larger, was shown in court Tuesday, while Evans narrated.

Neither video shows Ryder concealing any item or cutting tags off. But prosecutors have used them to establish what they claim was Ryder's strategy: grab items, remove the security tags in the dressing room, and then hide the tags.

When she was apprehended by a team of security guards outside the door, according to Rainey, the actress's first words were, "Didn't my assistant pay for it?" Both Rainey and two sales associates testified that Ryder was alone in the store that day.

Rainey also said that Ryder explained that a director had instructed her to practice shoplifting for a role in "Shopgirl," an adaptation of Steve Martin's novella. But when police arrived, Ryder told police she was rehearsing for a role in a police drama, "White Jazz," Rainey said.

Ryder's lawyer has said that she gave her credit card to an employee, asking that the account be left open while she shopped.

Store security on the defensive

Under cross-examination from defense lawyer Mark Geragos, security head Evans denied that he or any of his team asked the actress to raise her shirt in the security room of the upscale Beverly Hills store.

Evans also denied telling a former Saks employee, "I'm going to nail her," after the incident.

"You didn't tell Michael Shore over lunch that you were going to get her one way or another?" asked Geragos.

"Absolutely not," replied Evans.

The assertion, which could be supported if Shore testifies on Ryder's behalf, sent three jury members for their notepads, including former Sony Entertainment Pictures chairman Peter Guber, who led the company during its release of "Dracula," a film that featured Ryder. Guber was allowed on the jury without challenge by the prosecution.

Ryder made occasional notes during Evans' testimony and kept her eyes on Geragos as he moved about the courtroom. Geragos has claimed that his client fell victim to Saks' overzealous security force. Prosecutor Ann Rundle, however, called it "a simple case of theft."

Ryder's Beverly Hills trial has attracted more than 100 members of the media, along with observers, including Billy Tsangares, maker of the Free Winona T-shirt that Ryder sported on the cover of W Magazine.

"Pretty scary stuff," said Tsangares as he passed out silk-screened squares of fabric that read "I believe you, Winona." "It doesn't look good for her today."