Red “Ruby Slippers,” worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, are on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington. They are one of four surviving pairs made for the film. On Monday, federal charges — against a man accused of hiding a different pair of ruby slippers that were stolen in 2005 — were dismissed after the man died. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI | License Photo
March 17 (UPI) — Federal charges against a Minnesota man, accused of hiding a stolen pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, were dropped Monday after the man died.
Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, had been scheduled to change his plea to guilty in January before the hearing was postponed indefinitely after he was hospitalized with lung disease. Saliterman died Sunday, according to a one-page request for dismissal. The motion to dismiss did not state how Saliterman died.
Saliterman was indicted in March 2024, nearly two decades after the slippers were stolen. He was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering.
Saliterman was accused of hiding the slippers for Terry Jon Martin, 77, who pleaded guilty in October 2023 to stealing the ruby slippers. Martin was sentenced to time served due to ill health that left him dependent on an oxygen tank and wheelchair-bound.
Martin confessed to using a sledgehammer to break into the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids in 2005. Martin said he smashed the display case to steal the slippers, which are one of four surviving pairs made for the film.
Four months after Saliterman was indicted, the Crystal Police Department announced it had recovered the iconic ruby slippers, saying they “had been buried in the backyard of a residence in Crystal,” where Saliterman had lived for years.
In December, the recovered slippers sold for $32.5 million at auction to an undisclosed buyer.
