MINNEAPOLIS – A pair of the iconic sequined ruby red slippers worn by “Dorothy” in “The Wizard of Oz” were snatched from the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota in 2005. They were subsequently recovered during an undercover operation in Minneapolis in 2018. Now a man faces federal charges for theft of major artwork.
Although the famed slippers were insured for $1 million at the time of the theft, they are currently appraised at $3.5 million. The shoes are among the most recognizable American film memorabilia from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, the childhood home of the famous actress who played “Dorothy” in the 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz.”
Terry Martin was identified as the alleged thief, and faces federal charges for the heist of the footwear worn by “Dorothy” as she skipped along the fictional “Yellow Brick Road.” He was indicted by a federal grand jury for “the theft of an object of cultural heritage from the care, custody, or control of a museum,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of North Dakota said in a press release.
Martin was formally charged Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis with one count of theft of major artwork, according to officials.