A group of female thieves distracted Buddhist monks at their temple in Fresno, California, asking them for blessings while their accomplices stole over USD 35,000 that one of the monks was saving for his son’s wedding in Cambodia.
The robbery took place at the Fresno Cambodian Buddhist Society temple, near the city of Fresno, which is located in the western US state of California, on Sunday, 30th January.
The female thieves are said to have lured the monks away from their rooms under the pretext that they wanted to be blessed by all of the monks at the same time.
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But while they were being blessed, their accomplices picked the lock to the monks’ quarters and managed to steal USD 35,000 (GBP 25,800), along with a passport belonging to one of the monks.
The police suspect that the thieves belong to a gang that has been targeting communities across the state using the same trick.
Tony Botti, a spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, said: “They stop off in communities – restaurants, jewelry stores, and now we have a sacred temple that’s being ripped off.”
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A GoFundMe campaign has been set up by a friend of the monks and had raised over USD 4,500 (GBP 3,320) out of a USD-20,000 (GBP-14,700) goal at the time of writing, with 104 donations in less than two days (https://www.gofundme.com/f/fresno-cambodian-temple-robbery).
The Buddhist monks reportedly refused to cast blame. One of the monks, named as Say Bunthon, simply said: “I can’t say who’s bad or who’s good because that’s for the policemen.
“We cannot judge people like that.”
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No arrests had been announced at the time of writing.