Scott Schwebke /OC Register
A woman who repeatedly vandalized a Buddhist temple statue last year was arrested by Santa Ana police in the theft of three other statutes from another place of worship.
Surveillance video frame grab shows a woman removing two statues from a shrine at the Chua Truc Lam Yen Tu Buddhist Temple. COURTESY OF THE SANTA ANA POLICE DEPARTMENT
She was taken into jail on a no bail warrant from a previous arrest. On Feb. 26, the Chua Truc Lam Yen Tu Buddhist Temple at 1924 W. 2nd St. had two of its Buddhist statues stolen.
Surveillance video showed a woman removing two statues, each about 2 feet tall, from a shrine adjacent to the sidewalk in front of the temple, Bertagna said. The same woman returned to the temple on March 6 and stole a third statue, he added. Each statue is valued at $1,000.
After viewing surveillance video, an unidentified individual recognized the woman as Pham, who was arrested in 2015 for repeatedly vandalizing a large statue of Buddha at the Huong Tich Buddhist Temple in Santa Ana, Bertagna said.
Pham reportedly admitted to detectives that she had vandalized the statue, but said she didn’t have any issues with the Buddhist religion. Instead, police indicated that the vandalism was driven by a personal issue Pham had with a person associated with the temple.
In that incident, Pham was convicted of vandalizing a place of worship, sentenced to 268 days in jail and placed on 5 years’ formal probation, Bertagna said.
However, Pham never reported to the Orange County Probation Department. Pham is set to be booked into jail Friday.
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