A Sex Tape, Threats, and Dorothy's Ruby Slippers

A second man has been charged in connection with the 2005 theft of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz, according to an indictment made public Sunday.

• The theft: The slippers, adorned with sequins and glass beads, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor's hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, nearly 20 years ago. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.
• The recovery: The agency never disclosed exactly how it tracked down the slippers. The bureau said a man approached the slippers' insurer in 2017 and claimed he could help recover them but demanded more than the $200,000 reward being offered. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis the next year.
• Perp No. 1: The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded guilty in October to theft of a major artwork, admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum's door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off "one last score" after turning away from a life of crime. According to his attorney, Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen The Wizard of Oz. He reportedly dumped the slippers after someone told him the rubies in them weren't real. He was sentenced in January to time served due to his poor health.
• Alleged perp. No. 2: Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He didn't enter a plea when he made his first appearance Friday in US District Court in St. Paul. The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018, Saliterman "received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage," and that Saliterman knew the slippers were stolen and threatened to release a sex tape of a woman and "take her down with him" if she didn't keep her mouth shut about the them.
• The slippers: Per John Kelsch, founding director of the museum, the slippers have since been returned to Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who'd loaned the pair to the museum before they were stolen, and are being held by an auction house that plans to sell them. Federal prosecutors have put the slippers' market value at about $3.5 million.
• Other pairs: Garland wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to remain. The other pairs are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian's Museum of American History, and a private collector.

(More The Wizard of Oz stories.)