Chinese authorities are asking that harsh punishment be handed out to a man who snatched off the thumb of a Terracotta warrior that was on display at a Philadelphia museum.
The 24-year-old man named Michael Rohana stole the ancient statue’s digit during an after-hours “ugly sweater party” at the Franklin Institute on December 21st.
It took two weeks for someone to finally notice that the thumb had gone missing. A short time later, an FBI agent knocked on Rohana’s door in Bear, Delaware, asking about the thumb. Rohana then went to his bedroom and pulled out the artifact from the top right drawer of his desk.
He was arrested for theft of a major artwork from a museum, concealment of a major stolen artwork, and the interstate transportation of stolen property, but released on a $15,000 (£10,700) bail.
Two experts would be sent to the US to help with repairs, the director said, adding that they had begun the process of claiming compensation for damages.
The 24-year-old man named Michael Rohana stole the ancient statue’s digit during an after-hours “ugly sweater party” at the Franklin Institute on December 21st.
The exhibit called “Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor” was closed at the time, however, the door was open with only a black rope held up by two stanchions separating Rohana from 10 terracotta soldiers, on loan from China, that were made more than 2,000 years ago to guard China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, in the afterlife.
Once inside, Rohana used his smartphone camera’s flashlight to look around and snapped a selfie with his arm around one of the warriors. Before leaving, he pried off the $4.5 million statue’s left thumb and concealed it inside his pocket.
Once inside, Rohana used his smartphone camera’s flashlight to look around and snapped a selfie with his arm around one of the warriors. Before leaving, he pried off the $4.5 million statue’s left thumb and concealed it inside his pocket.
It took two weeks for someone to finally notice that the thumb had gone missing. A short time later, an FBI agent knocked on Rohana’s door in Bear, Delaware, asking about the thumb. Rohana then went to his bedroom and pulled out the artifact from the top right drawer of his desk.
He was arrested for theft of a major artwork from a museum, concealment of a major stolen artwork, and the interstate transportation of stolen property, but released on a $15,000 (£10,700) bail.
Music: "Indore" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: Medium, Daily Mail, Sina
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