Arrest Warrant Issued for Buddhist Monk

Police have issued an arrest warrant for a Vietnamese Buddhist monk in connection with allegations that he sexually molested two young women who came to his Pomona temple for spiritual advice.

The monk, 57-year-old Dong Huu Khuat, who is well known within Orange County’s Vietnamese community by his honorific title, Thich Tien Dung, is currently on a religious retreat in Thailand. No one at the Phap Van Temple, which he heads, could be reached for comment Friday.

Since news of the allegations first surfaced last week on Little Saigon Television in Orange County, three young women have come forward with similar allegations, said Pomona Police Det. Bill Snyder, who is handling the investigation.

Snyder said he expects that the original arrest warrant will be expanded to include the latest allegations.

The investigation began in March, Snyder said, when his agency received a courtesy report from a Texas police department that two women, ages 20 and 27, alleged they were sexually molested by the monk when they visited his temple. Officers served a search warrant at the site earlier this month and found “some corroboration of materials which were used in the molestations,” Snyder said.

He declined to describe what was found. Criminal charges have not been filed.

Ban Binh Buicqall, president of the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, a Westminster-based social services group, said Friday, “We shouldn’t rush to judgment. This is a holy Buddhist man who has fought against communism and therefore, it is not too far-fetched to assume that these accusations may be trumped-up charges by Communist sympathizers.”

One Rancho Cucamonga man, however, said a 1992 police report he filed for his daughter, accusing the monk of sexually assaulting her when she was 13, had nothing to do with politics.

“My family is Buddhist, and I didn’t want to do anything that would wrong him because he’s a holy man,” the 50-year-old man said. The man and his daughter came forward this week after they heard the broadcast on Little Saigon Television.