The gangster who stole the ruby ​​slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was saved from jail

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By Snejana Farberov

For a dying mobster who confessed to stealing the iconic ruby ​​slippers used in “The Wizard of Oz,” there’s no place like home after he was spared jail on Monday.

Terry Jon Martin, 76, faced a Minnesota judge who sentenced him to time served for the harebrained 2005 heist, in which the reformed thief came out of retirement to score “one last goal” by breaking into the Museum Judy Garland in Grand Rapids and slipping on the bright red shoes the actress wore while playing Dorothy.

The ailing Martin remained impassive as the judge handed down the punishment and was physically unable to fully rise from his chair at the end of the hearing.

His attorney, Dane DeKrey, said the resolution of the case should bring some closure for the government, the museum, the collector who owns the famous shoe and for Martin himself.

“They will never be compensated in this case,” DeKrey said of the victims. “But they are more complete than they have been in the last 18 years.”

Martin is under palliative care and is expected to die in the coming months. He also requires constant oxygen therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz accepted the prosecution and defense recommendation to sentence Martin to time served due to his deteriorating health.

In delivering the verdict, the judge told the defendant, speaking over the loud hum of his oxygen machine, that he probably would have sentenced him to 10 years in prison if it were still 2005.

As part of his sentence, Martin must pay $23,500 in restitution to the museum at a rate of $300 a month.

“I certainly don’t want to minimize the seriousness of Mr. Martin’s crime,” Schiltz said. “Mr. Martin intended to steal and destroy an irreplaceable part of American culture.”

The entire matter revolved around a misunderstanding regarding the value of the movie prop, Martin’s attorney wrote in a court memo before his sentencing.

Martin had left a life of crime behind in the late 1990s and was living as a law-abiding citizen when, in 2005, a former associate with mob ties approached him and told him about the ruby ​​slippers Garland wore in the classic from 1939. They had to be adorned with real gems to justify their $1 million insured value.

“At first, Terry declined the invitation to participate in the heist. But old habits die hard and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him awake at night,” DeKrey wrote in the memo. “After much contemplation, Terry had a criminal relapse and decided to participate in the robbery.”

Martin was not accused of stealing the sequined and glass bead-encrusted shoes until last year.

Prosecutor Matthew Greenley said in court Monday that investigators used phone records to locate Martin and used his wife’s immigration status as leverage to search Martin’s home and get him to confess to the robbery.

In October 2023, he pleaded guilty to theft of a significant work of art and admitted to using a hammer to break the glass of the museum’s door and display case to take the sneakers.

Martin said at the October hearing that he hoped to remove what he thought were real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a person who deals in stolen goods, known as a fence, informed him that the jewelry was not real.

Martin disposed of the stolen sneakers after they were in his possession less than 48 hours.

Martin had no idea of ​​the cultural significance of the ruby ​​slippers and had never seen “The Wizard of Oz,” according to the lawyer.

Instead, “old Terry” with a long history of theft and receiving stolen property defeated “new Terry” who had become “a contributing member of society” after his release from prison in 1996, the memo stated. .

After learning that the rubies on the shoes were fake, DeKrey wrote, Martin gave them to his former partner and told him he never wanted to see them again.

The FBI recovered the shoes in 2018 during an undercover operation in Minneapolis, after someone approached the office saying they could help track down the stolen artifacts in exchange for the $200,000 reward offered for their safe return.

Martin has refused to identify his accomplices and no one else has been charged with the robbery.

Federal prosecutors have estimated the market value of the sneakers at about $3.5 million.

In the beloved movie, Garland’s Dorothy had to click the heels of her ruby ​​slippers three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home” to return to Kansas from Oz.

He wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to exist.

Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned a pair to Garland’s hometown museum before Martin stole them. The other three are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian American History Museum and a private collector.

John Kelsh, founding director of the Judy Garland Museum, said the sneakers were returned to Shaw and are currently in the hands of an auction house that plans to sell them after a promotional tour.

With post cables