A Grand Rapids, Minnesota, man charged with stealing ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the “The Wizard of Oz” from a museum has pleaded guilty.
Seventy-six-year-old Terry Jon Martin was indicted in May on one count of theft of a major artwork.
He appeared in federal court today (Fri) in Duluth.
The shoes from the film were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids in 2005.
Martin said he thought the slippers had real rubies and that he had hoped to sell the gems.
No one was arrested until Martin was charged this year.
The slippers were recovered in a 2018 FBI sting in Minneapolis.
At the time of the theft, the slippers were insured for $1 million, but federal prosecutors put the current market value at about $3.5 million.
Under a plea agreement, Martin’s attorney and a federal prosecutor recommended that Martin not face any time behind bars because of his age and poor health.
Martin appeared in court in a wheelchair with supplemental oxygen. He has advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and struggles to breathe, according to his attorney Dane DeKrey. The proposed sentence would let Martin die at home, DeKrey said.
“He’s basically slowly suffocating to death,” DeKrey said.
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(Photo: FBI)
AP