A second gentleman has been billed in relationship with the 2005 theft of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz,” in accordance to an indictment produced general public Sunday.
Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a significant artwork and witness tampering. He did not enter a plea when he made his 1st appearance Friday in U.S. District Court docket in St. Paul.
The slippers, adorned with sequins and glass beads, ended up stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, almost 20 decades in the past and their whereabouts remained a secret until eventually the FBI recovered them in 2018.
The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018 Saliterman “received, hid, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage” — particularly, “an authentic pair of ‘ruby slippers’ worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” The indictment states Saliterman knew they were being stolen, and that he threatened to release a sex tape of a girl and “take her down with him” if she did not hold her mouth shut about the slippers.
Saliterman was in a wheelchair and on supplemental oxygen during his Friday court docket visual appearance. His oxygen device hummed throughout the hearing and he bounced his knee nervously throughout breaks in the proceedings. He responded with “yes,” when U.S. Justice of the peace Choose Elizabeth Cowan Wright questioned no matter whether he recognized the prices in opposition to him, but he claimed nothing at all about the allegations.
The scenario was not brazenly mentioned in courtroom. The magistrate purchased Friday that the indictment be unsealed, but it did not develop into publicly offered till Sunday.
Saliterman’s attorney, John Brink, said soon after Friday’s hearing that he couldn’t say a lot about the scenario, but: “He’s not responsible. He has not performed nearly anything erroneous.” Saliterman, who was introduced on his possess recognizance, declined to comment to The Involved Press outside the courthouse.
The gentleman who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded responsible in October to theft of a major artwork, admitting to making use of a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and screen situation in what his lawyer stated was an endeavor to pull off “one previous score” following turning absent from a lifetime of criminal offense. He was sentenced in January to time served because of his bad health and fitness.
Martin’s law firm said in court documents that an outdated associate of Martin’s with connections to the mob explained to him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured price.
Martin, who lives in close proximity to Grand Rapids, explained at an Oct listening to that he hoped to consider what he believed ended up true rubies from the sneakers and promote them. But a person who discounts in stolen merchandise, regarded as a fence, educated him the rubies weren’t authentic, Martin explained. So he acquired rid of the slippers.
Protection attorney Dane DeKrey wrote in courtroom paperwork that Martin’s unidentified previous affiliate persuaded him to steal the slippers as “one previous rating,” even nevertheless Martin experienced seemed to have “finally put his demons to rest” just after ending his very last prison expression nearly 10 several years previously.
“But aged patterns die hard, and the believed of a ‘final score’ kept him up at night time,” DeKrey wrote.
In accordance to DeKrey’s memo, Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had in no way observed “The Wizard of Oz.”
The files unsealed Sunday do not indicate how Martin and Saliterman may perhaps have been connected.
In the typical 1939 musical, Garland’s character, Dorothy, had to simply click the heels of her ruby slippers three situations and repeat, “There’s no area like house,” to return to Kansas from Oz. She wore many pairs during filming, but only 4 genuine pairs are recognised to continue being.
The FBI never disclosed accurately how it tracked down the slippers. The bureau mentioned a man approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he could assist get well them but demanded additional than the $200,000 reward staying offered. The slippers had been recovered for the duration of an FBI sting in Minneapolis the following yr. Federal prosecutors have place the slippers’ industry benefit at about $3.5 million.
Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw experienced loaned the pair to the museum prior to Martin stole them. The other pairs are held by the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a personal collector. In accordance to John Kelsh, founding director of the museum, the slippers ended up returned to Shaw and are being held by an auction home that strategies to provide them.
Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, till she was 4, when her loved ones moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969. The Judy Garland Museum, which incorporates the dwelling the place she lived, suggests it has the world’s greatest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.
