Sexual abuse of children... it's not just for Catholic priests any more. And, as it turns out, enabling and cover-ups are not a Catholic monopoly either. According to a July 24 article in the Chicago Tribune, Theravada Buddhist monks are walking away from sex abuse accusations and temple superiors are frustrating law enforcement by insisting they have no control over monks' actions or whereabouts.
Take the case of Camnong Boa-Ubol, for instance. According to a lawsuit filed against the Wat Dhammaram Theravada Temple in Chicago, a 12-year old girl told his superiors that the "monk had turned off the lights during a tutoring session, lifted her shirt and kissed and fondled her breasts while pressing against her..."
Here's the result (from the Tribune):
Shortly after that meeting, one of the monks sent a letter to the girl's family, saying the temple's monastic community had resolved the matter, the lawsuit says.
The "wrong doer had accepted what he had done," wrote P. Boonshoo Sriburin, and within days would "leave the temple permanently" by flying back to Thailand.
"We have done our best to restore the order," the letter said.
But 11 years later, the monk, Camnong Boa-Ubol, serves at a temple in California, where he says he interacts with children even as he faces a second claim, supported by DNA, that he impregnated a girl in the Chicago area.
Sriburin acknowledges that restoring order did not involve stopping Boa-Ubol from making the move to California. And it did not involve issuing a warning to the temple there. Wat Dhammaram didn't even tell its own board of directors what happened with the monk, he said.
"We have no authority to do anything. … He has his own choice to live anywhere," Sriburin said.
A second lawsuit against Boa-Ubol and the temple was brought by a woman who claims the monk sexually assaulted her back in the 1990s when she was 14 and fathered a child on her. DNA tests have verified that the monk is the father.
A Google search indicates that Camnong Boa-Ubol resides in a temple in Long Beach, CA. Despite the allegations and the lawsuits, no charges have been filed against him and the temple still allows him to provide instruction to children and others.
This is not the only case involving Theravada monks and temples though. The Tribune also reported on a monk charged with sexual assault against a 16-year old girl in Harris County, Texas:
The charges came in January after a 16-year-old girl confided in her high school counselor that the monk had been having sex with her for months, according to the complaint. Sgt. William Lilly, of the Harris County sheriff's office, said he visited the temple in search of the monk after the teen's outcry and "just got the sense they weren't going to help."
Days later, the monk's attorney announced his client had fled and was believed to be in Cambodia.
Where is the monk now? The temple's president could not say.
Another case, this one involving two sisters sexualy assaulted by a monk in Pomona, California in the 1990s, had a different outcome:
The monk in California landed in prison after his convictions for sexual assault of the sisters and sexual assault of a child, court records show. The sisters also had success with a civil suit. It described the monk as "a serial rapist who seductively wrapped himself in the robes of religious office" and alleged that other temple officials played a "role in the cover-up and the attempted flight from justice."
The court found multiple parties guilty of negligence, including the operator of a California temple where the assaults of the sisters took place, and a monk at another Theravada temple where the sisters were members.
But identifying higher-level targets was difficult,
(attorney for the sisters Richard) Flowers said."Our objective was to put liability on a responsible party," he said. "I think they've figured out that under Western law they can be held liable and that they adhere to a code of silence. I don't believe for a second that no one else is in charge."
Theravada Buddhist temples serve mostly immigrants from Southeast Asia. Monks report only to their temple heads and boards of directors. The Council of Thai Bhikkus in the US offers advice and other support to Thai monks residing there but provides no oversight and has no authority over them. There are hundreds of Theravada temples in the US today.
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