Second Man Charged in Wizard of Oz Ruby Slipper Theft

Nearly 20 years after a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz were stolen, a second man has been charged in connection with the crime. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He made an appearance last Friday in the U.S. District Court in St. Paul and did not enter a plea. Another man, Terry Martin, was also indicted on one count of theft of a major artwork for the 2005 theft last year.

According to the indictment, from August 2005 to July 2018, Saliterman "received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage," — the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. The indictment goes on to state that Saliterman knew that the slippers were stolen and that he had threatened a woman with the release of a sex tape to "take her down with him" if she didn't keep quiet about them.

About the Ruby Slipper Theft

The ruby slippers at the center of this case were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota in 2005. During the making of the 1939 film, Garland actually wore several pair of slippers and of those original shoes, only four pairs remain. The pair that were stolen — which were insured for $1 million but now have a market value of around $3.5 million — were on loan to the museum at the time of the theft. At that time, someone climbed into the museum through a window, broke the slipper's display case, and stole them. The slippers remained missing until 2017 when a man came forward, telling the shoes' insurer that he could help get them back and in 2018, the FBI recovered them.

Martin ultimately pled guilty to the crime last October, admitting to using a hammer to smash the museum's door and display case to pull off "one last score". Court documents from his sentencing in January reveal that Martin carried out the heist because an old associate of Martin's with mob connections had told him that the shoes had to be made with real rubies because of their insured value, prompting Martin to want to take the shoes for the gems. However, upon learning that the rubies were not real, Martin got rid of the shoes. Martin was ultimately sentenced to time served due to his poor health. It remains unclear how Saliterman is connected to Martin or the slippers.

The Recovered Slippers Weren't Actually a Matching Pair

Interestingly, the recovered slippers held a bit of a surprise. Outside of the recovered slippers, there are three remaining pair of ruby slippers currently in the hands of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian, and a private collector. When the Smithsonian compared the recovered, stolen slippers to the museum's pair, however, they discovered that the four shoes actually create two matching sets as they were "mismatched twins." You can read more about that discover on the Smithsonian's website.

What do you think about the latest update in the ruby slipper saga? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.