SANTA ANA – A Santa Ana woman who vandalized a statue at a local Buddhist temple more than a half-dozen times was sentenced Tuesday to probation.

A little more than a month after a jury found Trang Thu Pham guilty of vandalism of religious property, she was sentenced to five years of formal probation, court records show.

Pham was caught on surveillance video vandalizing a large statue of Buddha at the Huong Tich Buddhist Temple in Santa Ana. The statue, which stands more than 6 feet tall, was targeted at least eight times from Dec. 16 to Jan. 6.

A security officer from Costa Mesa recognized her from pictures and video footage that police released to the media and notified authorities. The footage showed the woman throwing objects, including glass bottles, at the statue.

Pham reportedly admitted to detectives that she had vandalized the statue, but said that she didn’t have any issues with the Buddhist religion.

Instead, police indicated that the vandalism was driven by an unspecified personal issue Pham apparently had with a person associated with the temple.

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