A Minnesota man who apparently didn’t know right from wrong now knows witch from witch … because he’s about to fess up that he stole Dorothy’s ruby red slippers.
76-year-old Terry Jon Martin, who pled not guilty to stealing maybe the most iconic piece of movie memorabilia ever, is expected to change his plea to guilty Friday, because he had a crisis of conscience.
The shoes — central to the plot of “The Wizard of Oz” — were ensconced in the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, until 2005, when someone stole them. It was a big enough case for the FBI to jump in, and the feds recovered the shoes in 2018.
The case went unsolved until this year, when Martin was arrested and charged with theft of a major artwork.
Martin’s attorney, Dane DeKrey, says his client — who is in failing health — has decided to come clean and confess, saying, “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.”
The shoes, which had magical qualities in the 1939 musical, were insured for $1 million, but valued at an estimated $3.5 mil.
Well, maybe he’s not a heel after all.