Dying thief who stole 'Wizard of Oz' ruby ​​slippers from Judy Garland Museum gets no jail time

DULUTH, Minn. — A dying thief who admitted to stealing a pair of ruby ​​slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” because he wanted to get “one last point” was not sentenced to prison at his sentencing hearing Monday. .

Terry John Martin (76 years old) stole the slippers decorated with sequins and glass beads in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor's hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. He succumbed to temptation after an old associate with mob ties told him the shoes had to be embellished with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value, his attorney revealed in a filing to federal court before his sentencing in Duluth.

Martin showed little emotion as the judge handed down the sentence and was physically unable to rise fully from his chair when the judge adjourned. He refused to address the court. But defense attorney Dean Deckery said resolving the case should bring closure to the government, the museum, the owner of the slippers and Martin himself.

Dekri said the government was able to hold one person accountable, while the museum and the slipper collector had to figure out what happened. Martin was able to close this chapter in the last months of his life instead of taking his secret to his grave.

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

The FBI recovered the shoe in 2018 when someone else tried to claim a reward. Martin wasn't charged with stealing it until last year. Prosecutor Matthew Greenlee said in court Monday that investigators used phone records to zero in on Martin, and used his wife's immigration status as a way to search Martin's home and force him to confess.

He pleaded guilty in October to the theft of a large work of art, and admitted using a hammer to smash the glass on the museum door and a display cabinet to take the slippers. But his motives remained a mystery until Deckery revealed them in a lawsuit this month.

Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, said during the October hearing that he hopes what he believes to be real rubies will be removed from the shoes and sold. Martin said a person who deals in stolen goods, known as a fencer, told him the ruby ​​wasn't real. So get rid of the slippers.

Deckery wrote in his memoir that Martin's unidentified former assistant convinced him to steal the slippers as a “final point,” even though Martin appeared to have “finally exorcised his demons” after completing his last prison term nearly 10 years ago.

“At first, Terry declined the invitation to participate in the robbery. “But old habits die hard, and the thought of the end result kept him awake at night,” Deckery wrote. “After much thought, Terry had a criminal relapse and decided to participate in the robbery.”

Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz accepted both sides' recommendation that Martin be sentenced to time served because he is homebound in a nursing home and is expected to die within the next few months. He requires constant oxygen therapy due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, and had to be brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair. The hum of his oxygen machine echoed through the courtroom.

Schiltz told Martin he probably would have been sentenced to 10 years in prison if it had been in 2005. The judge also accepted the recommendation from both sides that Martin pay $23,500 in restitution to the museum and ordered him to pay $300 a month.

“I certainly do not want to downplay the seriousness of Mr. Martin's crime,” the judge said. “Mr. Martin intended to steal and destroy an irreplaceable part of American culture.

According to Deckery's memo, Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby ​​slippers and had never seen the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” Instead, “old Terry,” who had a long history of burglaries and receiving stolen property, outmaneuvered “new Terry,” who became a “contributing member of society” after his release from prison in 1996, Deckery said.

After Fence told Martin that the rubies were fake, he gave the slippers to his old partner and told him he never wanted to see them again, Deckery wrote. Martin never heard from the man again, the attorney said. Martin declined to identify anyone else involved in the robbery, and no one else has been charged in the case.

The FBI never revealed how it tracked down the slippers. The office said a man contacted the insurance company in 2017 and claimed he could help recover it, but demanded more than a $200,000 reward. The slippers were recovered during an FBI operation in Minneapolis the following year.

Federal prosecutors estimated the market value of the slippers at $3.5 million.

In the classic 1939 musical, Garland's character Dorothy has to tap the heel of her ruby ​​slipper three times and repeat the phrase “There's no place like home” to return to Kansas from Oz. She wore several pairs during filming, but only four original pairs are known to remain.

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

According to John Kelsch, founding director of the Judy Garland Museum, the slippers were returned to Shaw and are being held for safekeeping by an auction house that plans to sell them after a roadshow. He told reporters he doubted they would ever return to Grand Rapids.

Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids, about 200 miles (320 km) north of Minneapolis, until she was four years old, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969.

The Judy Garland Museum, which houses the house where she lived, says it has the world's largest collection of Garland and Wizard of Oz memorabilia. The museum's executive director, Janie Hitz, told the court that the theft had cost it “a great deal of credibility” and made it difficult to borrow other items associated with Garland and the film, as well as hurting attendance.