On December 21, 2017, 24-year-old Michael Rohana attended an “ugly sweater” Christmas party at the Franklin Institute, a science museum in Philadelphia. At the time, the institution was exhibiting a collection of 2,000-year-old Terracotta Warriors on loan from Xi’an, China. In a drunken haze, Rohana opened the door into the roped-off exhibition space, entered the display, snapped a selfie with a 209 BCE statue of a cavalryman, and took off with the sculpture’s left thumb. Five years later, Rohana has accepted a plea deal for interstate trafficking (he brought the fragment back to his home in Delaware) and could face a maximum jail sentence of two years and a fine of $20,000 at his April 17 hearing.
The Franklin Institute noticed the missing appendage a few weeks after the Christmas party and opened an investigation to find the thief. The FBI soon identified Rohana as the culprit as he had told his friends about stealing the thumb.
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Rohana was living with his parents at the time and working at a department store selling shoes. He later explained that he woke up the day after the party, reached into the pocket of the clothes he’d worn the night before, and panicked when he realized he’d taken the thumb. He then stashed the terracotta finger away in a desk drawer.
In, 2018 incensed Chinese officials threatened action against both Rohana and the museum. The Terracotta Warriors, discovered in Xi’an, China in the 1970s constitute one of the 20th-century’s most astounding archaeological finds. The thousands of ancient statues cover an area of 22 square miles and none of the sculptures are identical.
Rohana’s hearing occurred in 2019 but a mistrial was declared when confusion arose surrounding the correct law to prosecute Rohana with.
Rohana’s public defender Catherine Henry argued that the charges brought against her client were “made for art thieves — think like ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ or ‘Mission: Impossible,’” adding that Rohana “wasn’t in ninja clothing sneaking around the museum. He was a drunk kid in a bright green ugly Christmas sweater.”
Source: Hyperallergic.com