A Delaware man was sentenced Wednesday to five years of probation after he broke off the finger of an ancient statue while inside a Philadelphia museum.
According to an arrest affidavit, Michael Rohana, who was 24 years old at the time, attended an ugly Christmas party at the Franklin Institute on Dec. 21, 2017, and had entered the "Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor" exhibit, which was closed.
Rohana had taken pictures while posing next to a statue known as "The Cavalryman," which was temporarily loaned from China.
Then Rohana snapped off the statue's left thumb and placed it in his pocket, authorities said.
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It wasn't until Jan. 8, 2021 when museum staff noticed the thumb was missing and the FBI was able to trace it back to Rohana and found it in his bedroom drawer just five days later, according to the federal court filing.
The statue itself is worth an estimated 4.5 million.
The theft caused an uproar in China and the Chinese government called on American authorities to severely punish the suspect.
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