ST. PAUL, Minn. — A 2d guy has been charged in reference to the 2005 robbery of a couple of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz,” according to an indictment made public Sunday.
Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He did not enter a plea when he made his first appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.
The slippers, adorned with sequins and glass beads, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, nearly 20 years ago and their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.
The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018 Saliterman “received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage” — specifically, “an authentic pair of ‘ruby slippers’ worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” The indictment says Saliterman knew they were stolen, and that he threatened to release a sex tape of a woman and “take her down with him” if she didn’t secure her mouth close concerning the slippers.
Saliterman used to be in a wheelchair and on supplemental oxygen all the way through his Friday courtroom look. His oxygen gadget hummed all through the listening to and he bounced his knee nervously all the way through breaks within the court cases. He replied with “yes,” when U.S. Justice of the Peace Pass judgement on Elizabeth Cowan Wright requested whether or not he understood the costs in opposition to him, however he mentioned not anything concerning the allegations.
The case used to be no longer brazenly mentioned in courtroom. The Justice of the Peace ordered Friday that the indictment be unsealed, however it didn’t change into publicly to be had till Sunday.
Saliterman’s legal professional, John Verge of collapse, mentioned later Friday’s listening to that he couldn’t say a lot concerning the case, however: “He’s not guilty. He hasn’t done anything wrong.” Saliterman, who used to be immune on his personal recognizance, declined to remark to The Related Press out of doors the courthouse.
The person who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded in charge in October to robbery of a significant paintings, admitting to the usage of a hammer to wreck the glass of the museum’s door and show case in what his legal professional mentioned used to be an try to drag off “one last score” later turning clear of a year of crime. He used to be sentenced in January to week served as a result of his unpriviledged condition.
Martin’s attorney mentioned in courtroom paperwork that an worn workman of Martin’s with connections to the mob advised him the footwear needed to be decorated with actual jewels to justify their $1 million insured worth.
Martin, who lives close Brilliant Rapids, mentioned at an October listening to that he was hoping to speed what he idea have been actual rubies from the footwear and promote them. However an individual who do business in in stolen items, referred to as a fence, knowledgeable him the rubies weren’t actual, Martin mentioned. So he removed the slippers.
Protection legal professional Dane DeKrey wrote in courtroom paperwork that Martin’s unidentified former workman unwavering him to scouse borrow the slippers as “one last score,” despite the fact that Martin had gave the impression to have “finally put his demons to rest” later completing his extreme jail time period just about 10 years previous.
“But old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him up at night,” DeKrey wrote.
In line with DeKrey’s memo, Martin had incorrect thought concerning the cultural worth of the ruby slippers and had by no means perceivable “The Wizard of Oz.”
The paperwork unsealed Sunday don’t point out how Martin and Saliterman can have been hooked up.
Within the vintage 1939 musical, Garland’s persona, Dorothy, needed to click on the heels of her ruby slippers 3 times and repeat, “There’s no place like home,” to go back to Kansas from Oz.. She wore a number of pairs all the way through filming, however handiest 4 original pairs are identified to stay.
The FBI by no means disclosed precisely the way it tracked i’m sick the slippers. The bureau mentioned a person approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he may backup recuperate them however demanded greater than the $200,000 praise being introduced. The slippers have been recovered all the way through an FBI sting in Minneapolis the after week. Federal prosecutors have put the slippers’ marketplace worth at about $3.5 million.
Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned the pair to the museum earlier than Martin stole them. The alternative pairs are held through the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American Historical past and a non-public collector. In line with John Kelsh, settingup director of the museum, the slippers have been returned to Shaw and are being held through an public sale space that plans to promote them.
Garland used to be born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Brilliant Rapids, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, till she used to be 4, when her society moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969. The Judy Garland Museum, which contains the home the place she lived, says it has the arena’s biggest choice of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.
