A second man has been charged with stealing a pair of ruby pink slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz.

The sneakers have been recovered by the FBI in a 2018 sting operation – 13 years after they have been stolen from a museum within the late actress’s hometown.

Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, was charged with “theft of a major artwork” and witness tampering throughout a listening to at St Paul District Court in St Paul, Minnesota. He didn’t enter a plea.

The footwear, which is adorned with sequins and glass beads, was taken from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, practically 20 years in the past.

They have been worn by her character, Dorothy, within the 1939 movie, and are value round $3.5m (£2.75m), in accordance with federal prosecutors.

The indictment stated that from August 2005 to July 2018, Saliterman “received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage” – particularly, “an authentic pair of ‘ruby slippers’ worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie”.

Prosecutors allege that Saliterman knew they have been stolen – and declare he threatened to launch a intercourse tape of a girl and “take her down with him” if she didn’t preserve her mouth shut concerning the slippers.

Saliterman, from Crystal in Minnesota, appeared in courtroom in a wheelchair and with a supplemental oxygen machine to assist his respiration. He declined to reporters after the listening to.

However, his lawyer John Brink stated: “He’s not guilty. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

It comes after Terry Jon Martin, 76, who lived round 12 miles away from the museum, pleaded responsible to theft of a serious paintings in relation to the case final October.

He admitted to utilizing a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and show case, in what his lawyer stated was an try to tug off “one last score” after turning away from a lifetime of crime.

Martin was sentenced in January to time served, that means he was launched and averted additional time in jail due to his poor well being.

During his listening to, Martin defined he had hoped to take what he thought have been actual rubies from the sneakers and promote them – however removed them when came upon the “jewels” weren’t actual.

His defence lawyer, Dane DeKrey, stated Martin had no concept concerning the cultural significance of the slippers and had by no means seen The Wizard of Oz.

The courtroom paperwork didn’t element any doable connection between Martin and Saliterman.

Read extra from Sky News:
‘Heroic’ cyclists fight off cougar
Man dies after falling from hot air balloon
Willy Wonka event organiser says life ‘ruined’

The slippers are related to some of the well-known strains within the musical: “There’s no place like home”.

The footwear seemingly takes on magical powers when Dorothy utters the road 3 times and clicks her heels – serving to to move her again dwelling to Kansas.

The sneakers are one in every of simply 4 remaining pairs of pink slippers worn by Garland within the movie.

The different three pairs are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a personal collector.

According to John Kelsh, the founding director of the museum from the place the slippers have been stolen, they’ve now been returned to their unique proprietor – memorabilia collector Michael Shaw – and can later be offered at public sale.