Michael Siniscalchi has managed to reach the level of an urban legend at Oberlin. He is known school wide. He is the notorious womb chair stealer.

“Actually, they aren’t really womb chairs. They’re ball chairs. Womb chairs are different, and more expensive,” Siniscalchi explains.

Each ball chair is worth $5, 945.

Siniscalchi is 23 years old. He has long curly hair and works at The Feve. He helped to remove the ball chair at the beginning of the fall semester, 2002. Although there were four people involved, Siniscalchi carries the full blame on his shoulders.

“I was the only one who took responsibility for it,” he said.

Siniscalchi has never given up the names of the other individuals. He has also evaded telling about the removal of the chair in case said details would open evidence to other names.

“I can tell you we used the elevators to bring it down to the loading dock/CIT floor,” he said.

Unfortunately, he fears that some people at the school may still harbor bad feelings and doesn’t feel comfortable giving much information. However they managed to do it, it worked. The four were not caught and had the ball chair for about eight months before it was found.

“An acquaintance of mine was in my house once,” he said. “He had left Oberlin and was driving to his new school in Michigan and was pulled over in Battle Creek,” he said. “He had a student visa and had already been caught trafficking. Basically, he spilled his guts to the cops.”

The student told them the location of the chair and when the cops walked in, Siniscalchi was the only one home.

“We had never been under any suspicion; this was the only way they could’ve found out.”

Siniscalchi explained that the whole thing was always meant as a prank. He and a friend had continually joked about stealing it and then realized that it was actually possible.

“The original plan was to return it in a month or two, painted blue, in the same exact location,” he said. “I left for a semester and figured it would’ve been returned by the time I got back. I guess since it was in my house the other guys didn’t feel the same need to return it—out of sight, out of mind. It was a prank from the start, though—it is sad that certain individual didn’t understand that.”

When Siniscalchi was arrested, he had to deal both with the judicial system of the school and of the state.

“I was originally charged with grand theft,” he said. Sinisalchi says he was then threatened with a charge of second-degree felony, which carries a jail sentence with it. He said he was offered a deal if he gave the names of the other students involved in the theft, a request he refused.

During the whole thing, one person involved left the school and the country and said his name could be given.

Overall, Siniscalchi found that the school took a very passive stance.

“[Late Dean of Students] Peter Goldsmith actually said that the charges would be dropped. The next day, he said he had talked to the school’s attorney who had advised against that.”

Siniscalchi wrote a long letter appealing to Nancy Dye for understanding.

“I explained that we had always planned to return the chair, and that it had been a prank. She wrote back about two sentences. She said that it was a judicial matter, and to talk to [former Dean of Students William] Stackman. As to the legal matter, he said I should get a lawyer.

“The school tried to remove themselves from responsibility, but they were very active in the whole thing. When I was arrested, the security officer there said the school would like to press charges. Goldsmith said that the security officer had acted on his own, without the school’s consent. If that was the case, why didn’t they correct it?”

Siniscalchi was suspended for all of last year. He will be on disciplinary probation until the day he graduates. He had to pay the city of Oberlin $1,000. His other conspirators helped out.

“Paying that was really hard. Every time I applied for a job I had to write down that I was a convict. I painted houses all summer and last year to pay it off. I also had to do 50 hours of community service. I worked for the local hot meals program, which was an awesome experience. I hope to volunteer there again.”

Siniscalchi also had to pay $306 to repaint the chair. Ray English, the director of libraries, found that “the chair that was stolen had a good bit of paint scratched off, so it had to be repainted.”

“There was no damage done to the chair. It was painted right away, and I was billed afterwards.” 

Siniscalchi is not currently enrolled in Oberlin. He was unenrolled at the end of last year when he ran into problems with financial aid.

“My parents wouldn’t help because of the incident, and I can’t put myself down as an independent,” he said.

He was working on a double major in biology and philosophy. He plans to apply again after his debt is payed off. He was at one time planning to stay an extra year to study in the Conservatory’s TIMARA program, but can no longer see that happening.

“Now I just want to graduate. I might even finish at a community college and not finish the biology degree.”