Man Who Snatched Dorothy’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ Ruby Slippers Sentenced to Probation
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The man who stole the iconic ruby red slippers Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz was sentenced to a year of probation on Monday, nearly 20 years after he first attempted the theft from a museum nearly two decades ago.
Terry Martin, who pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of a major artwork last October, was also charged $23,500 as an order of restitution. Martin is not serving prison time as he has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is currently in hospice care. He isn’t expected to live beyond another six months.
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According to sentencing memos, first reported by the New York Times and reviewed by Rolling Stone, when Martin stole the shoes from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota in 2005, he didn’t do so with any knowledge that the slippers’ worth was merely tied to their appearance in one of the most celebrated films of all time. Rather, he and a former associate believed the shiny red-sequined slippers contained actual rubies, and he intended to take the gems out and resell them on the black market.
As Dane DeKrey, Martin’s attorney, wrote in a sentencing memo earlier in January, Martin’s life “has four (1) youthful transgressions; (2)family tragedy; (3) prison and reformation; and (4) slippers theft.”
Per the memo, Martin was a reformed criminal who had a history with stolen jewels, but that he’d left his past behind before a former mob associate had reached out about the heist. “It seemed like Terry had finally put his demons to rest and was becoming a contributing member of society,” DeKrey wrote. “But then, unfortunately, his past came calling.”
The unnamed associate recruited Martin for the job because he lived close to Grand Rapids. At first, per the memo, Martin declined the offer, “but old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him up at night.”
He called the associate back, and he told Martin that the Garland Museum had lax security and that the theft wasn’t focused just on the slippers, but on the jewels attached. “Why? Because according to Terry’s associate, the rubies were real, and given their size, the man believed they’d command a handsome price on the black market,” DeKrey wrote. “This was the final piece of the puzzle for Terry, who had dealt in Illegal jewels in the past. The urge was simply too great. He was in.”
Martin successfully snatched the slippers on the night of Aug. 27, 2005, smashing the shoes’ glass casing with a hammer, and he held onto them for about two days. Martin gave them to a jewelry “fence,” who dealt a “crushing blow” to Martin by telling him the jewels were fake. Frustrated, Martin gave the shoes to the associate and said he “never wanted to see them again.”
To date, Martin is the only one to have been charged over the theft. After he gave the shoes to the former associate, Martin thought for a time that the final crime “would go with him to his grave,” DeKrey wrote, “but law enforcement had other ideas, and through a series of intrepid — and, at times, unethical — techniques, they eventually cracked Terry and got him to admit his involvement in the theft.”
With Martin near death, he’s focused on turning the page on that chapter in his life and moving on, per his attorney.
“He’s made peace with what he’s done in this life and is ready to accept whatever comes next. He’s
righted as many wrongs as he can, and this guilty plea is the last step,” DeKrey wrote. “Terry is ready to face the music, accept the punishment the Court believes is just, and move on with what little life he has left. While his past behavior might make it seem false, Terry does have a moral compass. And this crime had it spinning. He wants the spinning to stop.”
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