Nearly two decades after he broke into the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and stole a pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers used in “The Wizard of Oz,” the man who committed the theft has revealed why: He believed they The slippers were adorned with real rubies.
Terry Martin, now 76, had never seen “The Wizard of Oz” and had “no idea” that the shoes were among the most recognizable cultural objects in American cinema when he stole them on the night of August 27, 2005. his lawyer said. , Dane DeKrey wrote in court papers this month.
Instead, Martin believed the slippers must have been made with “real rubies” to justify their $1 million insured value, prosecutors said. He believed that he could remove the gems and sell them on the black market, a plan that failed when a man dealing in stolen jewelry informed him that the gems were made of glass.
On Monday, Martin was spared jail time and instead sentenced in U.S. District Court in Duluth, Minnesota, to a year of supervised release for stealing the sneakers after he pleaded guilty in October to one count. of theft of an important work of art. He also was ordered to pay $23,500 in restitution to the museum.
Federal prosecutors and DeKrey had agreed that Martin should not be jailed because he has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, requires oxygen and is in hospice care. He is not expected to live beyond the next six months, prosecutors said.
The motive for the robbery was revealed in sentencing memos filed by DeKrey and prosecutors this month that explained more about Martin's life story and his involvement in the heist.
Martin had dealt in stolen jewelry and had spent time in prison for robbery, his lawyer said. But he had been out of prison for 10 years at the time of the 2005 robbery and was living quietly in Grand Rapids, a small city 80 miles northwest of Duluth, when an “old mob associate” contacted him asking for “a job.” . his lawyer wrote.
Initially, Martin was reluctant to get involved, DeKrey wrote. But “old Terry” beat “new Terry” and he gave in to the temptation of “one last goal,” his lawyer said.
“His intention was singular: he believed that the gemstones attached to the slippers were real rubies, so he hoped to steal the slippers, remove the rubies from them, and sell them on the black market through a jewelry fence,” a person who buys and sells stolen jewelry, DeKrey wrote.
Martin used a hammer to break two panes of glass in a door at the Garland Museum and opened a plexiglass box containing the shoes, leaving behind a single red sequin and no fingerprints, according to court documents.
But less than two days later, when the anonymous person dealing in stolen jewelry told Martin that the gems were worthless replicas, “Terry, angry, decided to simply cut his losses and move on,” DeKrey wrote. He “gave the sneakers to the associate who had recruited him for the job and told him that he never wanted to see them again.”
Investigators had no credible leads in their search for the sneakers until an anonymous person contacted the Grand Rapids Police Department and promised to help return the shoes in exchange for a $200,000 reward, prosecutors said. In the end, the people connected to the theft attempted to extort even more money from the insurance company that owned the shoes, saying that if their demands were not met, they would keep the sneakers for 10 years and “explore other options,” the investigators said. prosecutors. .
FBI agents organized an undercover operation that recovered the sneakers in Minneapolis on July 10, 2018. Federal officials said they had a market value of $3.5 million and were one of four known surviving pairs of “The Wizard.” of Oz.”
Prosecutors have not identified or charged anyone else in connection with the robbery, including the mob associate who Martin says solicited the robbery or the people accused of trying to extort the insurance company. Martin has refused to cooperate with investigators in any way other than admitting his own conduct, DeKrey wrote.
But DeKrey wrote that the people who had tried to profit from the robbery were not “a group of low-cost criminals trying to get paid. “They were people with real juice, whose associations included organized crime and the federal government.”
If Martin “wanted to participate in this action, he could easily have contacted the man who recruited him for the job and demanded a sample,” DeKrey wrote. After all, he's the one who stole the sneakers. But he did not “.
Instead, Martin returned to living quietly in Grand Rapids, DeKrey wrote. He reconnected with his children and began a new romance, he wrote.
“Terry Martin never intended to be a criminal celebrity,” DeKrey wrote. “He stumbled upon this when he broke two windows in a museum and stole a pair of red sequined sneakers. He deeply regrets this decision and is willing to accept punishment from him. But he is not a monster. He is a dying man ready to meet his creator.”
