MINNEAPOLIS– 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 score” is expected to stay out of jail after his sentencing Monday.
Terry Jon Martin, 76, stole the slippers in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. He gave in to temptation after a longtime Mafia associate told him the shoes needed to be decorated with real jewelry to justify the $1 million insured value, his lawyer revealed in a memo to federal court ahead of his sentencing in Duluth.
The FBI recovered the shoes in 2018 when someone else tried to claim a reward. Martin was only charged with theft last year.
He pleaded guilty in October to the theft of a major work of art and admitted using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum door and the display case to take the slippers. But his motivation remained largely a mystery until attorney Dane DeKrey revealed it this month.
Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, said at the October hearing that he hoped to remove what he believed were real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a person who deals in stolen goods, known as fencing, told him the rubies were glass, Martin said. So he took off the slippers.
DeKrey wrote in his memo that Martin’s unidentified former Mafia associate persuaded him to steal the slippers as “a final score,” even though Martin seemed to have “finally put his demons to rest” after his death nearly a decade ago. had served his last prison sentence.
“At first Terry declined the invitation to participate in the robbery. But old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him awake at night,” DeKrey wrote. “After much thought, Terry had a criminal relapse and decided to participate in the theft.”
Both sides are recommending that U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz sentence Martin to prison because he is homebound in hospice care and expected to die within six months. He requires constant oxygen therapy due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was in a wheelchair when he pleaded guilty.
Federal sentencing guidelines would normally recommend a sentence of about 4 1/2 years to 6 years, although someone with Martin’s criminal history could receive an even longer sentence. But his health “is simply too fragile,” prosecutors wrote in a lawsuit. Another prosecutor said both sides agreed he should be ordered to pay $23,500 in restitution to the museum, even though he apparently doesn’t have the money.
According to DeKrey, Martin had no idea of the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen “The Wizard of Oz.” Instead, DeKrey said, the “old Terry,” with a lifelong history of burglaries and receiving stolen property, defeated the “new Terry” who had become “a contributing member of society” after his 1996 release from prison. jail.
After the fence told Martin the rubies were fake, DeKrey wrote, he gave the slippers to his old mob associate and told him he never wanted to see them again. The lawyer said Martin never heard from the man again. Martin has declined to identify anyone else involved in the theft, and no one else has ever been charged in the case.
The FBI has never revealed exactly how it tracked down the slippers. The agency said a man approached the insurer in 2017, claiming he could help get them back, but demanded more than the $200,000 reward that was offered. The slippers were recovered the following year during an FBI sting in Minneapolis.
Federal prosecutors estimate the market value of the slippers at about $3.5 million.
In the classic 1939 musical, Garland’s character, 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. She wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to exist.
Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned one pair to the museum when 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.
Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids, about 200 miles north of Minneapolis, until she was four, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969.
The Judy Garland Museum, located in the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and Wizard of Oz memorabilia.
