A Buddhist monk from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Venerable Pho Kay, recently had US$19,000 in seized funds returned to him after a four-month legal struggle. The ordeal began when Ven. Pho Kay, who was returning from a trip across the United States, was stopped by a highway patrol officer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and subjected to an extensive search and interrogation by Homeland Security personnel.

Ven. Pho Kay’s difficulties began after providing mutual aid to a friend, who was recovering from an injury sustained in a fall. Ven. Pho Khai made the decision to drive the man to a friend’s house in Sugarland, Texas.

The monk explained his decision: “I knew him for 10 years. I brought him here from his home in Oklahoma, and he stayed until November.” He added, “Then I took him to his family.” (Colorado Springs Independent)

As a thank you, the family members gave the monk US$2,000 as a gift, which he added to the other temple funds that he was carrying with him at the time.

On his return trip to Colorado Springs, Ven. Pho Kay stopped along the way to visit his friend and Dharma brother Ivan Mayerhofer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He stayed in Ann Arbor for two days before beginning the 1,300-kilometer drive home.

It was during this leg of his journey that the monk was pulled over by the highway patrol in an unmarked vehicle. During the encounter, the officer searched the car that Ven. Pho Kay was driving and asked if he had any money, drugs, or weapons in the car. Ven. Pho Kay told the officer that he had “several thousand” dollars in the car. The officer counted the funds, noting a total of US$19,000, then impounded the monk’s rental car and took him to the Sioux Falls office of Homeland Security.

“I felt like trash. I felt like a criminal,” Ven. Pho Khai said when asked to describe his feelings about the experience. (Colorado Springs Independent)

At the Homeland Security office, the monk was interrogated for four hours, during which time he was accused of lying and told that a dog had smelled drugs at the scene of his traffic stop.

Eventually, Ven. Pho Khai was released and allowed to return home; but not before the temple cash, a green duffel bag, an iPhone, an iPad, and a wallet had been confiscated. 

Following his request, the iPhone, iPad, and wallet were returned to the monk, but he was forced to leave the temple cash and the green duffel bag behind. Thus began a four-month ordeal that required Ven. Pho Khai to prove that the money was legally his and not the result of criminal activity. His first move was to secure legal representation via Sioux Falls attorney Ryan Kolbeck.

A letter to Kolbeck from US Customs and Border Protection, dated 21 December 2023, cited laws related to civil assets forfeiture—laws that, according to the US government, are “designed to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes, to break the financial backbone of organized criminal syndicates and drug cartels, and to recover property that may be used to compensate victims and deter crime.” (Colorado Springs Independent)

According to civil asset forfeiture law, the seizure of the temple’s cash did not require a criminal conviction or, in Ven. Pho Khai’s case, even an arrest or a charge. His options, the letter explained, were to pursue a court proceeding to regain his assets, or to file a Seized Asset Claim along with pertinent documents within a specific timeframe. He was also informed of the option to forfeit his property to law enforcement.

Ven. Pho Khai and Kolbert decided to file a claim, costing the monk US$2,500 in legal fees.

Ven. Pho Khai was then required to obtain numerous character references from friends and fellow Dharma teachers to corroborate that he was a Buddhist monk and that it was normal for monastics to carry donated funds with them when they return to their temples. He also showed documentation of his ordination as a Buddhist monk and the nonprofit status of his temple.

Kolbeck received a letter from US Customs and Border Protection on 4 April this year informing him that a decision had been made to return Pho Khai’s assets seized in 3 December of the previous year. However, Ven. Pho Khai still feels anger over the way he was treated by US law enforcement. 

“I’m a monk but I’m human,” he said. “Don’t think that someone in a monk’s robe is some kind of saint. I have feelings. I have emotions.”  He continued: “Had I not followed the guidance of the Buddha and all the teachers who taught me, I might not be here.” (Colorado Springs Independent)

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Colorado Springs Buddhist monk faces the dark side of the law (Colorado Springs Independent)

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