President of LB Buddhist temple held in contempt

Monks pray at Wat Vipassanaram, a calm that contrasts with the dispute between most of the monks and the board of directors, which transferred the temple's assets to an ambiguous nonprofit linked to a gnostic church.
(Luis Sinco, xx)
October 9, 2008

Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times
Head monk Khoeun Pang lights candles for evening prayers. Observers in the Cambodian community say the conflict is part of a larger factionalism, including disputes over the designation of Cambodia Town in central Long Beach.

San Jose Mercury News

The Associated Press
10/21/2008

LOS ANGELES—The president of a Cambodian Buddhist temple in Long Beach has been held in contempt of court and taken into custody for refusing to turn over financial documents in a fierce legal battle over who controls the temple.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Di Loreto had repeatedly demanded that 44-year-old Siphann Tith turn over the temple's assets to a court-appointed receiver.

Tith says he no longer has the temple's books, and that the board has dissolved the nonprofit that ran it.

The judge didn't accept the argument and on Monday declared Tith in contempt.

Two factions of the Long Beach Cambodian community have been fighting over the temple. A group of monks elected its own board in January after Tith had agreed to an election but a dispute arose over who would be able to vote.