A US federal judge dismissed the charges against a Minnesota man accused of hiding a stolen pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in the 1939 musical "The Wizard of Oz" after prosecutors informed the court that he died, CBS News reports.

Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of Crystal, who had been in poor health with lung disease and other ailments, had been scheduled to change his plea to guilty in January but that hearing was postponed indefinitely after he was hospitalized.

Federal prosecutor Matthew Greenley notified the court in a one-page motion Monday that Saliterman died Sunday but did not say how or where. US District Judge Patrick Schiltz granted the request and dropped the charges.

Defense attorney John Brink confirmed Monday that his client had died but declined to give details.

According to court filings, Saliterman was hospitalized in early January "for inability to walk and sepsis," an infection that can be life-threatening. He attended his arraignment three days later via video from what looked like a hospital room.

In an update to the court late last month, Brink told the court that his client had been discharged to a hospice facility and that his prognosis was poor. An accompanying letter from his doctor listed severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requiring supplemental oxygen and Parkinson's disease.

The sequined red slippers were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids. Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned his pair to the museum before Terry Jon Martin stole them. But Martin got rid of the slippers when he learned they were fake, and they ended up with Saliterman. Martin pleaded guilty in 2023 and was sentenced last January to time served because of his poor health.

The whereabouts of these slippers remained a mystery for nearly 13 years until the FBI recovered them in 2018. They fetched a record for movie memorabilia of $32.5 million in December, according to Heritage Auctions.

The Judy Garland Museum's efforts to buy back the slippers at auction ultimately failed.