Santa Ana, CA (NV)- For the nearly 40 disciples of Tu Nghiem Temple in Santa Ana, Monday should have been a day of last minute preparations, saying good bye and embarking on a three week-long religious pilgrimage to Southeast Asia.
Instead, after a fire broke out that destroyed the necessary paperwork and airline tickets for the trip they signed up for eight months ago, they are left sitting home with nothing but questions and anger.
that held the passports and paperwork. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
Santa Ana firefighters responded to a call at the temple at 5418 W. 4th St. on Saturday evening and put out flames from a fire that had started in the back room of a temple. According to head monk Thich Nhuan Thu, the fire started after he left a space heater running when he went out to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
A spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority said damage was limited, and a determination of the official cause of the fire is pending.
The monk said that when he surveyed the damage to his room, he found the fire had destroyed the passports he had been holding for the travelers, along with their tickets. When the temple members heard about the fire and learned their trip was canceled, they showed up at the temple to demand answers.
reporters to photograph the outside. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
One of them was 58-year old Oanh Hoang of Ontario. She says she and two family members each paid $2700 to make the pilgrimage. When they arrived at the temple, she said, they noticed a few of the passports had been salvaged from the fire and still had the photos they submitted as part of the visa application attached, meaning the applications had not been processed. When they asked the monk for details, “he didn’t know what to tell them,” she said.
one of the passports that was salvaged from the fire. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
As word spread, several members tried to contact their airline for their flight information and found no record of tickets being purchased. Hoang says from there, they knew something wasn’t right. One of the disciples called police.
Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department said two detectives have been assigned to the case and are looking into allegations of embezzlement; a criminal investigation is pending.
Thich Nhuan Thu said it was up to him to make the travel arrangements,
and he said he went to the agency to book the flights on EVA Air and
placed the tickets on hold. Then he took a trip to Vietnam and met a
man he identified as “Cuong,” who convinced him to use his contact to
get him a better rate.
Not only could the monk book each ticket for $30
less than the price quoted by the agency, but his ticket would be paid
for and the paperwork and visa applications would be handled for him.
The monk said he agreed to allow the third party to book the trip, saying
he trusted the tickets were coming from a legitimate agency.
about what happened. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
He said he didn’t know the tickets had not been purchased until the attempt to retrieve ticket information turned up no reservations. When the disciples demanded the name and phone number of the agency he used, the numbers he provided were no longer in service.
Thich Nhuan Thu said he was duped and wants to repay the travelers, even though he doesn’t have the money to do so. He said he wrote three checks to repay Hoang and her family members but asked them to wait until March 10 and March 13 to cash them. He said he didn’t have the funds in his checking account but was counting on loans from other disciples to come through. No one else has been reimbursed.
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