A Buddhist monk who was under investigation for allegedly bilking thousands of dollars from members of a temple in Santa Ana has died of an apparent suicide, police said Friday.
Dao Nguyen, 44, was found dead around 9:15 a.m. Thursday at the Tu Nghiem Temple, 5418 W. Fourth St., according to Santa Ana Police.
Nguyen had been under investigation since March 1, when police were called to the temple in response to a crowd of about 30 people who were demanding that he return thousands of dollars he had collected from them for a congregational trip to Vietnam that never occurred, police said.
According to investigators, Nguyen collected between $1,100 and $7,700 from 34 people — for a total of about $97,000 — for the trip, which was supposed to take place March 2. The trip was expected to include tours of Buddhist temples throughout the country.
Nguyen claimed that the tickets and other travel documents had been destroyed in a Feb. 28 fire in his apartment at the temple. But police said their investigation determined that no tickets had ever been purchased.
According to police, Nguyen claimed he worked with someone in Vietnam to arrange the travel planning, and another person in the United States handled the purchase of the tickets, which he said had been delivered to him just hours before the fire. When police determined no tickets had been purchased, Nguyen claimed the tickets he received were apparently counterfeit and blamed the fraud on the unidentified suspect who delivered them, police said.
With Nguyen committing suicide, police said they are continuing to investigate to determine if anyone else might have been involved in the disappearance of the money. Detectives plan to review bank, email and telephone records and conduct additional interviews before closing the case.
Anyone with information was asked to contact Cpl. Shannon Rackley at (714) 245-8431.
—Staff and wire reports