For a dying mobster who admitted to stealing the iconic ruby slippers worn in “The Wizard of Oz” there’s no place like home – after he was released from prison Monday.
Terry Jon Martin, 76, faces a Minnesota judge who sentenced him to prison for the 2005 rabbit brain heist, which saw the reformed thief come out of retirement to make “one last score” by breaking into the Judy Garland Museum at Grand Mallant and swiping shoes the sparkly red the actress wore while portraying Dorothy.
An ailing Martin remained stone-faced as the judge handed down the sentence – and was physically unable to fully rise from his chair at the end of the hearing.
His lawyer, Dane DeKrey, said the settlement of the case should bring closure to the government, the museum, the collectors who own the famous shoes and to Martin himself.
“They will never fully recover in this case,” DeKrey said of the victims. “But they are more intact than they were in the last 18 years.”
Retired mobster Terry Jon Martin, 76, is on trial for the 2005 theft of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the 1939 musical “The Wizard of Oz.” AP Martin’s attorney said he was convinced by a former associate to steal the slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minn. AP
Martin is in hospice care and is expected to die in the next few months. He also requires continuous oxygen therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Chief US District Judge Patrick Schiltz accepted the prosecution’s and defense’s recommendation that he sentence Martin to prison because of his deteriorating health.
In handing down the verdict, the judge told the defendant, speaking over the loud noise of his oxygen machine, that he would likely have been sentenced to 10 years in prison if it had been 2005.
As part of his sentence, Martin will be required to pay $23,500 in restitution to the museum at a rate of $300 per month.
John Kelsh, founding director of the Judy Garland Museum, said the ruby slippers found will be auctioned off. AP
“I certainly don’t want to minimize the seriousness of Mr. Martin’s crime,” Schiltz said. “Mr. Martin intends to steal and destroy an irreplaceable part of American culture.”
The entire caper hinged on a misunderstanding related to the value of movie props, Martin’s attorney wrote in a court memo before his sentencing.
Martin had left a life of crime behind in the late 1990s and was living as a law-abiding citizen when, in 2005, he was approached by a former associate with ties to the mob, who told him the ruby slippers worn by Garland in the classic 1939. had to be adorned with real gems to justify their $1 million insured value.
“At first, Terry declined the invitation to join the robbery. But old habits die hard, and thinking about the ‘final score’ kept him awake at night,” DeKrey wrote in the memo. “After much reflection, Terry relapsed into crime and decided to take part in the heist.”
Martin was not charged with stealing the sequined and glass beaded shoes until last year.
Prosecutor Matthew Greenley said in court Monday that investigators used phone records to focus on Martin, and used his wife’s immigration status as leverage to search Martin’s home and get him to confess to the robbery.
In October 2023, he pleaded guilty to stealing a major work of art, admitting to using a hammer to break the glass of a museum door and display case to take slippers.
Martin was mistakenly led to believe by mob associates that the shoes were covered in real rubies. AP
Martin said at the October hearing that he hoped to remove what he believed to be a real ruby from the shoe and sell it. But someone who deals in stolen goods, known as a fence, informs him that the jewel is not real.
Martin got rid of the stolen slippers after they had been in his possession for less than 48 hours.
Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen “The Wizard of Oz,” according to the lawyer.
Instead, the “old Terry” with a lifetime history of burglary and receiving stolen property beat the “new Terry” who had become a “contributing member of society” after being released from prison in 1996, the memo alleges.
After learning that the ruby on the shoe was fake, DeKrey wrote, Martin gave it to an old associate and told him he never wanted to see it again.
The FBI recovered the shoes in 2018 during a sting in Minneapolis, after someone approached the bureau saying they could help track down the stolen artifacts in exchange for a $200,000 reward offered for their safe return.
Martin declined to identify any accomplices, and no one else has ever been charged in the theft
The slipper is one of the most famous and recognizable props in cinema history, with an estimated value of $3.5 million. Everett Collection
Federal prosecutors have put the market value of the slippers at about $3.5 million.
In the beloved film, Dorothy, played by Garland, had to click her ruby slipper heel three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home,” to get back to Kansas from Oz.
He wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to exist.
Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned a pair to a museum in Garland’s hometown before Martin stole them. The other three are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian American History Museum and private collectors.
John Kelsh, founding director of the Judy Garland Museum, said the slippers had been returned to Shaw and were now being held by an auction house that planned to sell them after a promotional tour.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
