A grand jury has indicted a man on charges of stealing a pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, US prosecutors say.
The shoes were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota — the late actress' hometown.
They were recovered 12 years later in an FBI sting operation, but no arrests were made at the time.
On Tuesday, local time, Terry Martin was indicted with one count of theft of a major artwork, federal prosecutors in North Dakota announced.
The indictment did not provide further information about Mr Martin and online records do not list an attorney for him.
Garland wore several pairs of the ruby slippers during the production of the 1939 film, but only four authentic pairs remain.
US prosecutors said the slippers were insured for $US1 million ($1.5 million) when they were stolen, but the current market value is about $US3.5 million ($5.2 million).
The slippers were on loan to the Judy Garland Museum when someone climbed through a window and broke the display case, prosecutors said at the time they were recovered.
Several rewards were offered over the years in the hope that the slippers would turn up, including $US1 million from an anonymous donor in Arizona.
The shoes are famously associated with one of the iconic lines in The Wizard of Oz as Garland's character, Dorothy, clicks her heels and repeats the phrase: "There's no place like home."
Made from about a dozen different materials — including wood pulp, silk thread, gelatine, plastic and glass — the shoes' ruby colour mostly comes from sequins, but the bows of the shoes contain red glass beads.
The three remaining pairs that Garland wore in the movie are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian museum and a private collector.
AP
