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 exhibited a collection of 2,000-year-old objects Terracotta Warriors on loan from Xi’an, China. In a drunken haze, Rohana opened the door to the bounded exhibit space, entered the exhibit, took a selfie with a horseman statue from 209 BCE, and took off with the left thumb from the sculpture. Five years later, Rohana has accepted a plea deal for interstate trafficking (he brought the shard home to Delaware) and could face a maximum prison sentence of two years and a $20,000 fine at his April 17 hearing.
The Franklin Institute noticed the missing appendix a few weeks after the Christmas party and launched an investigation to find the thief. The FBI quickly identified Rohana as the culprit because he had told his friends that he had stolen the thumb.
Rohana was living with her parents at the time and working in a department store selling shoes. he later explain that he woke up the day after the party, rummaged through the pocket of clothes he had worn the night before, and freaked out when he realized he had taken the thumb. He then hid the terracotta finger in a desk drawer.
In 2018, furious Chinese officials threat action against Rohana and the museum. The Terracotta Warriors, discovered in Xi’an, China in the 1970s, are one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. The thousands of ancient statues cover an area of 22 square miles and none of the sculptures are identical.
Rohana’s hearing was held in 2019, but a mistrial was declared when confusion arose around the correct law to prosecute Rohana.
Public Defender of Rohana Catherine Henry argued that the charges against her client were “made for art thieves – think like ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ or ‘Mission: Impossible,'” adding that Rohana “wasn’t in ninja gear sneaking around the museum. C was a drunken kid in an ugly, bright green Christmas sweater.
