Includes video report
PHILADELPHIA — Police are searching for a man who was caught on video robbing a Buddhist monk as he bought lottery tickets in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, convenience store.
Police said the 61-year-old monk was at a Sunoco gas station store on South Broad Street buying lottery tickets from a machine on Jan. 3 when an unidentified black male snatched $350 in cash from the monk's hands and ran out of the door.
The monk is then seen on video chasing the man into the gas station parking lot, where they engage into a physical struggle. The monk is thrown to the ground, sustaining a cut to the leg, but soon gets up and approaches the robber's vehicle before it drives off.
Police said they're searching for the newer dark silver For Mustang with a Pennsylvania license plate that reads JHY-3783.
Anyone with information about the incident or the man shown in the video is asked to contact Det. McIntyre with the South Detective Division at 215-686-3334, or submit a confidential tip by calling 215-686-8477 (TIPS) or texting a tip to PPD TIP or 773847.
VIDEO: Watch the police video
Didn't know Monks were allowed to gamble. Don't they give up all worldy possessions, meditate all day long, and eat only vegetables?
I was expecting that Monk to fly around the parking lot like they do in movies.
I was at a house warming party where the owners had invited several Buddhist monks. They were the life of the party. They were drinking beer and gambling at cards and having a great old time. They really liven things up.
I thought they were Kung Fu trained, or something. No?
I know about Philthadelphia.
This just re-enforces my decision to play in the no-lotto-tax state where I've been going.
I leave my cash out on the counter, until I've filed all my tickets and money away.
to amber 123, you are criticizing the monk that they are vegetarians and should meditate all day long usa is a free country any one can play lotteries but very strange you did not say any thing about the black man who robbed him,may be you are a black,and favoured the black man you are his brother
See, 1B jackpots even has monks giving up their vows
Look at all the things so-called Christians do that are sinful. The monk is the victim here. I hope they find the thug who robbed him and arrest him. And I use the word "thug" for any low-life or any race.
This is a strange story. Wonder why the monk had $350.00 to gamble on power Ball when $20. or $50 would have been more than enough?
Is he's planning on leaving the monastery or setting up a trust fund for his followers?
With the Plate number and video, hope they find the perpetrator.
Karma is going to come back around and hit that robber like a truck.
In South Philly there is a huge number of Monks, they are treated very well by their followers. I give them respect also for their gentle faith. It is <snip> awful to have done that to the Monk.
As for him gambling, let the first stone be thrown here at LP members.... Smile!! It's his own business why. But I suspect it was a decision by the group of Monks. They have a compound here in South Philly, a Temple that they have been working on for the past 10 years or so, and still in the works of being a beautiful Temple. Maybe it was that reason they decided to gamble their money for? Who knows.
My dismay is that the Monk was attacked. They are SO nice to everyone. They have a parade down the street every year, the streets are blocked off and it is beautiful to see.
I hope that whomever had the lack of respect for humanity gets locked up where there isn't one day of sunlight for their sentence.
I wish there was a fund that I could give a few bucks to replace the money before the drawing on Wednesday.
Great... Now PA won't win the jackpot lol
How about you leave your own bigotry at the door. That was highly uncalled for.
The U.S.is a free country, which is why a person with a functioning brain is free to ask about the lifestyle of a culture or faith she doesn't understand or know about. Monks are portrayed a certain way in the media and gambling conflicts with that portrayal. How about you simply answer the question she asked instead of bringing your own issues into it.
Definitely not casting stones at him, it just seems odd.
Are there different orders of monks like say the Catholics/Jesuits? I went to a Jesuit school for many years and every priest and nun I knew or ever met all had to take a vow of poverty and chastity and I'd assumed it was the same everywhere, but then I saw where an archbishop in Atlanta was building a $2 million house for himself and the church had approved it, which I didn't understand at all. But then someone told me that they don't have to take a vow of poverty because even though he was Catholic, it was a different order.
Is that the same with monks?
You're joking right?
Show me where I criticized. My ideas about how the Monk people live their lives must has obviously been wrong. I was merely making an observation based on everything I knew about them. What led you to believe that I thought they "should" as you say, do all those things?
And how in the world did you derive to me defending the scum thug black, white, whatever, based on what I wrote?
BTW, I'm not black.