Milpitas Hindu Temple Burglarized in Dawn Break-In; South Bay DA Charges Serial Temple Thief
The Shirdi Sai Parivaar Temple in Milpitas was targeted by burglars in the early morning hours of September 25, with intruders stealing a sacred donation box and jewelry and leaving the local Hindu community both financially harmed and spiritually shaken. The incident belongs to a troubling regional pattern: the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has separately charged a San Jose man with stealing more than $50,000 from South Bay churches and temples, including a Milpitas Hindu temple, in a systematic series of break-ins.
🪔 Shirdi Sai Parivaar Temple Robbed Before Dawn; Sacred Hundi and Chavdi Jewelry Taken
The Shirdi Sai Parivaar Temple in Milpitas was burglarized in a narrow ten-minute window between 5:30 and 5:40 a.m. on Thursday, September 25, when intruders broke through a side lobby door, entered the main hall, and forcibly removed the center donation hundi—a sacred offering box holding cash gathered from recent religious celebrations. The thieves also took jewelry from the Chavdi, items the congregation regards as spiritually sacred rather than simply valuable. Temple officials told Diya TV that CCTV footage captured the suspects in the act, and that the recording has been handed over to Milpitas police, who opened an investigation. The financial loss remained uncertain in the immediate aftermath, but a temple spokesperson made clear that the deeper harm was not monetary: "We don't know how much cash is lost. Our hundi is gone, completely taken away. It's very sentimental for all of us. More than money, we are heartbroken that someone entered the temple and stepped onto the podium." Temple leaders placed the break-in within a broader pattern of incidents targeting Hindu places of worship across California—including Santa Clara, Fremont, Newark, and Sacramento—and as far away as Indiana. Community leaders have called for stronger security measures and for federal recognition of what they describe as an escalating trend of hate crimes and opportunistic theft. Police urged nearby houses of worship to review their security protocols, while community members rallied around the temple to support its recovery. [5]
San Jose Man Held on $1 Million Bail After Allegedly Stealing $50,000-Plus from South Bay Temples
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office charged Jaime Gutierrez Flores, 33, of San Jose, with a systematic series of burglaries targeting churches and temples across the South Bay, holding him on $1 million bail. Prosecutors allege that Flores and at least one accomplice broke into at least eight religious institutions between December and February before his arrest at a San Jose church. Among the targets was a Hindu temple in Sunnyvale, which Flores and his associate allegedly struck on three separate occasions, stealing more than $45,000 from donation boxes in those incidents alone. The Patch report 's headline identifies a Milpitas temple as also among the institutions hit in the broader theft spree, which prosecutors say yielded more than $50,000 in stolen donations in total. District Attorney Jeff Rosen condemned the crimes in strong terms: "Our schools, our homes, our places of worship, are special and sacred places, and when they are invaded by criminals it feels as though our whole community has been violated. Our office will hold this criminal, and anyone who acted with him, fully responsible to the law." The case has drawn attention to the vulnerability of South Asian religious communities to targeted theft, with Hindu temples in the region facing a notable share of such incidents. Prosecutors indicated they intended to pursue not only Flores but any accomplices involved in the scheme. [7]