A Minnesota man has been indicted on prices that he stole a pair of the famed ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,” from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minn., the actress’s hometown, almost 18 years in the past.

The red-sequined pumps have been recovered in a sting operation that ended in Minneapolis in 2018, however the authorities mentioned on the time that their investigation was persevering with and they didn’t identify any suspects.

On Tuesday, a federal indictment in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota charged Terry Jon Martin of Minnesota with stealing an genuine pair of the slippers, which officers estimated have a market worth of $3.5 million, from the museum someday between Aug. 27 and Aug. 28 of 2005. Mr. Martin was indicted on one rely of theft of a serious art work.

The one-page indictment didn’t present any additional particulars concerning the case. It was not instantly clear if Mr. Martin had a lawyer and he couldn’t be reached at numbers listed below his identify. Mr. Martin informed The Minneapolis Star Tribune on Wednesday that he needed to go to trial, and added: “I don’t want to talk to you.” The newspaper reported that Mr. Martin lived about 12 miles south of the museum.

Janie Heitz, govt director of the Judy Garland Museum, mentioned in an interview on Wednesday that she was researching to seek out out if Mr. Martin had any connection to the museum, though she was sure that he had not been an worker.

“It’s a break in the case, which is good,” she mentioned. “We are excited, speechless, anxious.”

The slippers have been stolen by somebody who had damaged in by means of a again entrance and smashed the plexiglass show case holding the sneakers. With no fingerprints or safety digital camera footage to go by, the police have been left with few clues. The solely factor left behind was a lone pink sequin.

Federal, native and personal investigators pursued quite a lot of theories through the years, and ultimately a non-public donor supplied a $1 million reward for finding the sneakers, which have been amongst a number of worn by Garland in filming the 1939 film. Three different pairs utilized in filming have been recognized to outlive.

A break within the search got here in 2018 when somebody approached the insurance coverage firm that owned the sneakers, claiming to have details about the slippers and the way they could possibly be returned. It rapidly grew to become clear, officers mentioned, that the particular person was making an attempt to extort cash from the corporate.

Investigators from the F.B.I.’s artwork crime unit, together with different federal brokers in Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, organized a sting operation to recuperate the slippers. The authorities mentioned they’d not paid any reward cash.

Seyward Darby, a co-host of “No Place Like Home,” a podcast concerning the theft, mentioned that Mr. Martin’s identify had not come up in her reporting.

“However, as our podcast discusses, there was a strong suspicion that there was a ‘local connection’ to the crime — someone with knowledge of the museum, the fact that the slippers were on loan there in the summer of 2005, and how easy they were to steal,” Ms. Darby mentioned in an electronic mail. “What’s interesting is that Martin is just one piece of the puzzle. Over the 13 years the slippers were missing, it is possible — likely, even — that they exchanged hands.”

The indictment, Ms. Darby mentioned, raised questions on whether or not Mr. Martin may need acted alone or whether or not he may need been commissioned by a legal syndicate.

“Much like ‘The Wizard of Oz’ itself, this story keeps on giving,” she mentioned. “Every time there’s a new development, there are more mysteries.”

Rhys Thomas, the creator of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz,” a ebook concerning the sneakers used within the movie, mentioned that Mr. Martin “certainly wasn’t on my radar.”

“I have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Mr. Thomas mentioned. “I don’t think a single individual would have opportunistically grabbed the shoes and then sat on them for 13 years and then gotten himself involved in an extortion case.”

When the sneakers have been stolen, they belonged to a collector in North Hollywood, Calif., and have been on mortgage to the museum, which opened in 1975 in the home the place Garland lived as a younger little one.

The Judy Garland Museum had put the sneakers on show in 2005 throughout an annual pageant celebrating the actress. Strictly talking, they aren’t a pair; the left and proper sneakers are barely completely different sizes, and are thought-about to be the mates of the left and proper sneakers housed on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

In “The Wizard of Oz,” Ms. Garland, enjoying Dorothy, clicks the heels of the ruby slippers 3 times and utters the phrases, “There’s no place like home,” magically transporting herself again dwelling to Kansas.

Ms. Heitz mentioned on Wednesday that, though the sneakers had been recovered in 2018, they’d remained in federal custody, as proof within the case. She mentioned she hoped that they may in the future be returned to the museum and displayed once more. They are extensively thought-about to be among the many most recognizable cultural objects in American movie.

“It’s just such an iconic item that means so much to so many people,” Ms. Heitz mentioned, including that, to many, the slippers characterize dwelling and a way of place. “It would be a shame for them to stay in a locked case for the rest of time.”