Plea change in the theft of Judy Garland’s ruby slippers

(KNOX) – A man charged in connection with the theft of a pair of ruby slippers worn in “The Wizard of Oz” plans to plead guilty next Friday in federal court in Minneapolis.
In March 2024, a federal grand jury indicted Jerry Saliterman of Crystal for his role in the infamous heist of the slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, in 2005.
Saliterman is the second man charged in connection with the theft of the slippers. Terry Jon Martin admitted in 2023 to stealing the slippers from the museum in Grand Rapids, the hometown of Judy Garland. Martin was sentenced in early 2024 to time served.
Saliterman is charged with a felony count of theft of a major artwork. He also faces a count of witness tampering for allegedly threatening to “distribute sex tapes” of a woman in an effort to prevent her “from communicating information to the FBI relating to the theft.”
Those ruby slippers were recently sold at auction for $28 million.