{"id":259568,"date":"2026-05-05T18:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/259568\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T18:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:56:09","slug":"georgia-man-accused-of-torching-florida-buddhist-temple-damaging-sacred-relics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/259568\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia man accused of torching Florida Buddhist temple, damaging sacred relics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SANFORD, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Georgia man is accused of setting fire to a Florida Buddhist temple, damaging sacred relics and a monk housing area, officials say.<\/p>\n<p>The man, later identified as Singhasouk \u201cDanny\u201d Phanouvong, is seen in surveillance video from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/p\/Wat-Navaram-Buddhist-Temple-Inc-100064814525805\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wat Navaram Buddhist Temple<\/a> in Sanford, allegedly showing Danny damaging religious artifacts before setting fire inside the daily worship hall and residential area used by monks.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators say he fueled the flames with items from inside the building, including electronics, triggering small explosions as the fire spread. The temple\u2019s red ceiling was later found blackened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe took a lot of concrete items from here and threw them into the van, broke all the van\u2019s windows out,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durhamlawgrouppc.com\/joe-panyanouvong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Joe Panyanouvong<\/a>, attorney for the temple. \u201cHe used it to break into the main residential area as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/third-sloth-dies-in-rehabilitation-after-sloth-world-rescue-animal-rescue-exotic-animals-wildlife-investigation-animal-cruelty-case-bankruptcy-filing-international-drive-attraction-sloth-rehabilitation-veterinary-care-endangered-animals-zoo-stat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Third sloth, Dumpling, dies during rehabilitation after Sloth World rescue<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In addition to the temple, Panyanouvong said the suspect also targeted a van used by monks for transportation and caused damage across multiple buildings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everybody&#8217;s in shock, and everybody&#8217;s sad, especially knowing that the person who did this was once a member of our temple,&#8221; he told <a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/florida\/georgia-man-charged-with-setting-fire-to-orlando-area-buddhist-temple-damaging-van-used-by-monks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WSVN<\/a>. &#8220;It appears to be some type of mental health crisis.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gail Paschall-Brown reports the attorney estimates damages could reach tens of thousands of dollars. A wheelchair-bound monk was inside an apartment on the property during the fire but was safely rescued and not injured after another monk called 911.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have two worship halls he targeted the hall used daily,\u201d Panyanouvong said. \u201cIt\u2019s shattered their sense of peace and safety here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>Since the fire, the community and local businesses have allegedly stepped up to help with rebuilding efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANFORD, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Georgia man is accused of setting fire to a Florida Buddhist temple, damaging&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-259568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}