A MONK was disrobed after 20 years as a clergyman after he was caught red-handed masturbating in the lobby of an apartment building in Phang Nga.
Police received a report that a monk was creating a scene, revealing his penis and shouting indecently in the lobby of Sunimit Mansion.
Police rushed to the scene, but when they arrived the monk was gone. They eventually found 70-year-old Phra Chalat Yanthibo at a nearby intersection and took him back to the apartment for questioning.
At Sunimit Mansion, receptionist Rachani Anusilanon, 55, insisted that Phra Chalat had behaved as she had said. When she showed officers footage from the CCTV camera, they realized she was telling the truth – and promptly arrested the monk.
Phra Chalat said he had travelled from Nakhon Sri Thammarat Province and was on his way to Phuket, but had got off the bus at the wrong stop.
He told police he had gone into the apartment complex to ask for 200 baht to complete his journey.
He went into the bathroom. When he came out, he pulled out his penis and started masturbating.
Mrs Rachani told him to stop, but the monk ignored her and started shouting obscenities.
Police established that Phra Chalat had been a monk for 20 years. It took several officers to force a distressed Phra Chalat to take his monk’s robes off.
