Man charged for stealing famous red slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz' 

A Minnesota man was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday on charges of stealing the famous red slippers worn by Judy Garland in the movie "The Wizard of Oz," according to federal prosecutors in North Dakota.

The shoes, worth at least $3.5 million now, were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, according to court documents. The thief smashed a window on the backdoor of the building to gain access inside. The alarm did not go off. No arrests were made at the time. 

"Despite an investigation by local authorities, which included countless interviews, numerous theories, and even searches of abandoned iron ore pits, the slippers were never located and no arrests were made," the agency said at the time.

Over the years, rewards were made by law enforcement officials and private donors hoping to find the missing pay of shoes, but to no avail. The shoes remained missing for 13 years until the FBI’s art crime team recovered them in 2018 during a sting operation. 

Terry Martin, 76, was charged with one count of theft of a major artwork. Charging documents have no information on what led to his arrest. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Martin lives about 12 miles south of the Judy Garland Museum. 

The famous red slippers were one of the pairs used by Garland during the production of the 1939 film. When the shoes were stolen, they were one of the four remaining authentic pairs. They were insured by their owner, collector Michael Shaw, for more than $1 million. 

The three other pairs of shoes are now held by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington D.C, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, and a private collector. Staff at the Judy Garland Museum hope the shoes will return to their original display once the legal case ends.