By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-20 21:42:50 | Updated at 2025-04-05 15:42:10
2 weeks ago
The homeless menace accused of vandalizing six Manhattan Buddhist and Taoist temples – including hurling a Buddha statue out the window – was cut loose in court Wednesday night thanks to recent bail law changes.
Taihong Ouyang, 49 – who faces hate crime burglary and criminal mischief charges – was granted supervised release as he appeared before a judge in connection to the early Tuesday morning trail of destruction, the DA’s office said.
The charges are not eligible for bail under state law, prosecutors said.
Ouyang told detectives he carried out the vandalism because he believed the monks at the temples were “acting improperly by charging too much money and putting people on the wrong religious path,” and that he’d hoped to “give these temples a beating,” according to a criminal complaint.
The vandalism spree began around 12:20 a.m. at an Eldridge Street temple owned by the Buddhist Association of New York – where he allegedly used a metal object to break the windows, the court doc said.
He returned around 3 a.m. and destroyed even more windows at the same temple, prosecutors charged.
Ouyang is also accused of shattering windows at a Chinese acupuncture business on Canal Street that shares its location with the Mahayana Buddhist Temple around 12:50 a.m. and again at about 4:30 a.m., according to the complaint.
During Ouyang’s unhinged spree, he also allegedly used a fire extinguisher to smash the hands of a large religious statue and threw a smaller statue on the ground inside the Sung Tak Buddhist Association on Pike Street.
At the Grace Gratitude Buddhist Temple on East Broadway, he allegedly shattered the glass front door – and inside the World Buddhist Temple on Henry Street, he is accused of using a stick to break the security cameras.
Ouyang’s fit of fury came to an end around 8:30 a.m. at the Huang Da Xian Taoist Temple on the Bowery, where prosecutors say he tossed a Buddhist statue through the window – breaking both the statue and the window.
Someone called 911 to report the vandalism and Ouyang was tracked down and arrested, authorities said.
Ouyang, who was also charged with aggravated harassment, is next scheduled to appear in court April 30.
He does not appear to have an arrest record.
James Lynch, Jr. vice president of the Buddhist Council of New York, told The Post he only want compassion for Ouyang.
“As a practical matter, we’re not in the business of trying to seek punishment for people, but harmony and compassion,” Lynch, Jr. said. “So it makes [for] challenging issues. Buddhists by definition have compassion and love.”
“We don’t want [people] to be drawn and quartered,” he added. “Remember, he’s a homeless man — there’s mental instability there, potentially….When we think about people differently, then we don’t look to punish them so much as how we can bring people together in a compassionate way.”
He also pointed to “ongoing” problem with crimes against the Asian community “that often go unacknowledged.”
