A Minnesota man is expected to change his plea to guilty in the 18-year-old case of the theft of a pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz from a local museum.
I guess the "The good witch Glinda gave me the shoes" defense wasn't holding water.
The crime took place back in 2005, but the FBI didn't recover the shoes until 2018, and they never charged anyone with the crime until this year.
Terry Jon Martin, the 76-year-old Minnesota man was indicted in May for "theft of a major artwork," was originally expected to plead not guilty. But now Martin, facing poor health, is expected to change his plea to guilty.
No one was arrested in the case until Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, was charged earlier this year. Martin's attorney, Dane DeKrey, said his client, who is in poor health, has been cooperative with authorities.
"I think Terry is facing his own mortality and I think when people are reaching that point in their life, they cut through the pleasantries and talk turkey," DeKrey said in an interview ahead of Friday's scheduled hearing.
It sounds like Mr. Martin realizes that the jig is up.
Martin had been arrested once before in the '80s for receiving stolen goods but has stayed out of trouble from that time until now.
The public indictment doesn't detail how the FBI tracked the stolen movie memorabilia, which experts now value at $3.5 million, to the man. But they clearly have a case that's good enough for them to take Martin to court.
Martin is facing what could be a decade in prison, but his lawyer is hoping for leniency as he is in poor health and will be in a wheelchair and on oxygen.
The slippers in question were on loan to the museum from Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw when someone climbed through a window and broke the display case. Three other pairs that Garland wore in the movie are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a private collector.
Imagine, stealing a $3+ million item and not being able to get it off your hands because it's so incredibly well-known!
The FBI is still holding onto the slippers and it's not known when they intend to give them back to the museum.
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