Terracotta Soldier Finger Theft
Four days before Christmas in 2017 a clay thumb, from a sculpture of a soldier on loan to the museum, vanished. No one seemed to know where it went and the search for it went on to involve the FBI in order to reclaim the digit.
The Terracotta Army
To give you a little bit of context about what we’re talking about today, and to really hammer home how important these sculptures are, we’re going to talk a little about these sculptures and where the one in question comes from.
In 1974, farmers in Linton County, outside of Xi’an, Shaanxi, China were digging a well when they made a surprising discovery. They kept finding pieces of terracotta which they thought were old roof tiles until they started to find pieces of bodies like arms and hands. This prompted Chinese archaeologists to investigate and what they found would end up being the largest pottery figurine group ever found; the Terracotta Army.
This group of sculptures was created by Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, and they’re a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210-209 BC with the intent of protecting him in the afterlife. The figures vary in height according to their rank in the army with generals being the tallest and other figures including warriors, horses, and chariots. Estimates state that the three pits that comprise this burial site and army hold more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. Most of these figures remain in situ in the pits where they were uncovered as a museum now has been created around the site. However, some statues are occasionally loaned out to other museums around the world so others can appreciate this incredible feat of art and skill.
The Franklin Institute
Now we can go back to 2017 with the proper background. The Franklin Institute is a science and technology museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they had been holding events and parties in order to garner more visitors for the museum, they even had an escape room. On the night in question, December 21, they were having an ugly sweater party to celebrate the holiday season. During this time, of course, they also had some terracotta warriors on loan from China being displayed but during the party the lights in the exhibit were switched off and a rope was drawn over the entrance clearly signalling to guests that the area was off-limits to party goers.
However, this wasn’t enough to stop some of the more tipsy guests from wanting to take a look at the sculptures. Michael Rohana, a 24 year old wearing a bright green sweater and a Phillies hat, along with a couple of friends snuck into the closed exhibit. Rohana gazed up at the statue of a cavalryman using his phone flashlight to see clearly. He then climbed up on the platform supporting the statue, slung his arm around its shoulders and took a selfie. Then Rohana put his hand on the left hand of the statue and appeared to break something off and put it in his pocket before exiting the exhibit and returning to the party and later heading home to Bear, Delaware.
Since this happened right before the museum closed over the holidays the missing thumb wasn’t noticed until January 8, 2018 and then the museum launched an investigation. The police got the FBI involved to help track down the thief and by reviewing security tapes from the night of the ugly sweater party they were able to identify that the thief was the guy in the Phillies hat. But they still needed a name.
Rohana made a huge mistake when he started telling his friends excitedly about what he had stolen and even SnapChatted a picture of the thumb to one of them. This is how the FBI was able to identify him and track him down. The FBI’s Art Crimes team arrived at his home in Delaware and, in front of his father, Rohana admitted that he had the thumb stashed in his desk drawer.
Rohana was arrested and released on $15,000 bail and the conditions that he hand over his passport, consent to drug testing, and agree not to leave the country before the trial. He was charged with theft of a major artwork from a museum, concealment of a major artwork stolen from a museum, and interstate transportation of stolen property (since he took the thumb back to Delaware with him).
In April 2019 the trial started and Rohana pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for what he called a drunken mistake but a mistrial was declared when the jury was completely deadlocked, this was because of the lack of financial motive which is pretty rare in an art theft case. Then because of a pesky little pandemic his next trial was delayed further.
The Chinese government were furious, calling for harsh punishment for Rohana (what that actually means I don’t know if I want to know) but Philedelphia was able to resolve the situation by issuing a formal apology.
Finally, in 2023, Rohana again pled guilty to all charges and he was sentenced to five years probation in addition to a $5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. Pretty light compared to the maximum sentence of 2 years in jail and a $20,000 fine. For his part Rohana said “through all of this, I’ve earned a huge respect for these archaeological items, they are not to be messed with, broken, or damaged” (Cascone, 2023), and the judge retorted, “your conduct in this case was absolutely outrageous—quite frankly, sickening. Everybody around the world looks at this and says, ‘Yep, that’s those Americans. No respect for nothing’” (Cascone, 2023).
There is still some debate about how much, if anything, Rohana should pay in restitution, in addition to the fine, to the Franklin Institute. The museum said it had spent more than $50,000 in the wake of the theft on new security barriers and transportation costs for Chinese officials to come and examine the sculpture. Additionally, it will cost another $25,000 to repair the statue, worth about $4.5 million itself.
Rohana told the judge that he is willing to help with these costs by selling his sneaker collection including some valuable Nikes and Air Jordans worth about $32,000 so that’s a step in the right direction.
Not sure how it doesn’t occur to people that ancient artefacts and items should be treated with respect but let this story be a lesson. They’re definitely not for anyone to touch, mess with, break, or damage just for a little bit of drunken fun at a party.
Works Cited
Cascone, Sarah. “A Drunken Party Guest has Pled Guilty to Stealing the Thumb of a $4.5 million Terracotta Warrior at a Philadelphia Museum”. ArtNet. 2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/drunken-terracotta-warrior-thumb-theft-franklin-institute-2279382
Cascone, Sarah. “The Vandal who Desecrated a Chinese Terracotta Warrior Vows to Sell his Sneaker Collection to Pay Restitution”. ArtNet. 2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/terracotta-warrior-vandal-sentenced-2359957
Gross, Daniel. “FBI Points Finger at Thief of Terracotta Soldier’s Thumb”. Hyperallergic. 2018. https://hyperallergic.com/427558/terracotta-warrior-selfie-thumb-theft/