CRYSTAL, Minn. — The second man charged for the theft of the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz had much more to hide than the fancy footwear, according to recently unsealed court documents.
The man in question, 76-year-old Jerry Hal Saliterman of Crystal, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering earlier this month and was the subject of a search warrant on Dec. 20, 2023.
According to the court documents, the warrant was prompted by the FBI, which was working the case of the ruby slippers at the time.
When the FBI executed the warrant, Saliterman allegedly admitted to several items in his home being stolen and told the FBI whatever they might find is old.
Photo evidence from the warrant allegedly showed "clear signs of an organized retail theft operation," according to the document.
An officer allegedly observed a chain link padlocked fence sealing off the area underneath a set of stairs. Inside the sealed-off area, the officer found several "high-end" electronics, including a Nikon camera still in its box.
The sealed-off area also allegedly contained multiple Coravin wine pourers still in the box and three iGrill Weber grills, which dispelled Saliterman's claim that everything they would find would be very old.
According to the document, photos of the storage shed behind the home revealed several pieces of art, including metal statues and candelabras.
Other photos from the warrant showed thousands of dollars of cash placed into disposable food containers that were wrapped in aluminum foil. The FBI estimated there to be $30,000 cash in the containers.
The initial search warrant also led to investigators finding RFID shielding bags, a FLIR thermal imaging camera and a bag of two-way walkie-talkies.
The FBI also worked with a "cooperating defendant," who cooperated with law enforcement and allegedly revealed several details of the theft ring. The defendant stated they were present during hundreds of thefts, including to Williams Sonoma around 500 times and Apple around 250 times.
The defendant said the ring was active for 10-15 years and ended in 2021 or 2022, according to the document.
According to the defendant, Saliterman possessed the ruby red slippers and showed them to her in a grocery bag. The Ruby red slippers were placed into a clear plastic container and buried in the yard for approximately seven years, according to the defendant.
Saliterman and his associates allegedly tried to remove their DNA from the slippers by placing them in an ultraviolet sanitizer cabinet.
The slippers, adorned with sequins and glass beads, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor's hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, nearly 20 years ago and their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.
The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018 Saliterman “received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage" — specifically, "an authentic pair of ‘ruby slippers’ worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie ‘The Wizard of Oz.’" The indictment says Saliterman knew they were stolen, and that he threatened to release a sex tape of a woman and “take her down with him” if she didn’t keep her mouth shut about the slippers.
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