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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Stolen 'Wizard of Oz' Slippers Come Home to Staten Island

By Nicholas Rizzi | March 17, 2014 12:42pm
 Ruby red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" that were stolen from the lobby of a Staten Island hotel were returned a day after reports of the theft, owners said.
Ruby red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" that were stolen from the lobby of a Staten Island hotel were returned a day after reports of the theft, owners said.
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The Nicotra Group

BLOOMFIELD — Dorothy's ruby slippers are home.

The pair of $2,500 shoes, replicas of those worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz," were stolen from the display case in the lobby of a Staten Island hotel on March 2.

They were returned a day after news reports of the theft were published last week, the Staten Island Advance first reported.

The slippers were dropped off by an unidentified man to the front desk of the Hilton Garden Inn, at 1100 South Ave., on Saturday, a statement from the hotel owners said.

The man told the worker to "give this to Richard Nicotra," who owns the hotel. When staff opened the bag later that night, the slippers were inside wrapped in white tissue paper.

"The slippers are a bit worn, but otherwise perfect," the statement said.

On March 2, a woman was caught on surveillance cameras stealing the slippers from a display case in the lobby, police said.

Nicotra previously told DNAinfo New York that the cameras captured the woman with three men who lifted up the display case. She was later filmed walking around the hotel wearing the shoes.

The slippers had been bought by the owners of the hotel while on vacation in Paris and put in a display case in the lobby with a sign "We know there's no place like home, but at the Hilton Garden Inn we'll do our best."

In the movie, Dorothy taps the slippers together three times to return to her Kansas home.

"We thought it was a novel idea," Nicotra said. "We've had them there for years and years."

Owners said the slippers were returned to the case and they beefed up security of the display to "make sure this never happens again."

Nicotra told the Advance that he hasn't reviewed security footage of the man dropping off the slippers yet but has informed the police.

"We contacted the police and told them the shoes were returned, so it's in their court now, whatever they want to do," he told the paper.

An NYPD spokesman said there was no update on the case.