A man from Delaware, Michael Rohana, pleaded guilty to embezzling a thumb off of a $4.5 million Chinese ancient warrior statue as he drunkenly partied at a museum in Philadelphia, reports the New York Post.
Rohana stole the thumb from the 2,000-year-old ancient statue after sneaking into an exhibit that was closed off while he attended a party at the Franklin Institute back in Dec 2017. Prosecutors managed to drop one of the major charges against him, theft and concealment of an object of cultural heritage from a museum, which could’ve landed him in prison for up the 30 years. This charge was dropped as a part of his plea bargain. Yet, he pleaded guilty to charges of interstate trafficking, which is a maximum of a two-year sentence and a $20,000 fine.
The man was merely 24 years old when he snuck into the closed-off exhibit at the museum’s after-hours holiday festivity. He later admitted to committing the crime and taking a selfie with the statue, says charging documents. In 2018, Chinese officials were angry over the act and demanded that the United States punish the Rohana.
According to reports, the statue was worth $4.5 million while the thumb was worth about $5,000. Back in 2019, Rohana confessed to stealing the thumb, yet, a mistrial took place
“after the jury deadlocked,”
reports the Philly Voice.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
