A man has been charged with stealing Judy Garland‘s ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz.
According to federal prosecutors in North Dakota on Wednesday, Terry Martin was charged on one count of stealing a significant work of art by a grand jury on Tuesday.
According to the indictment, Martin allegedly took the slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005.
The shoes were recovered by the FBI in 2018. The slippers were being loaned to the museum in Garland’s hometown when someone entered through a window and broke a display case to take them, prosecutors said at the time.
Garland wore the recovered shoes in the 1939 musical and they are one of only four ruby slippers she wore during the production that are still known to exist. Playing the lead role Dorothy, Garland famously clicked her heels wearing them and said, ‘There’s no place like home’.
The slippers were insured from $1million at the time of the theft and are now worth around $3.5million, according to federal prosecutors.
The indictment did not include more information on Martin. There was no attorney listed for him in online records.
A summons for Martin on Wednesday stated that his initial court appearance has been scheduled for June 1 and will be done on video.
Martin is 76 years old and lives 12 miles south of the museum, The Star Tribune reported.
‘I gotta go on trial,’ Martin told the newspaper. ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’