Maui Police Commission decides not to place Chief Pelletier on leave over lawsuit allegations

KAHULUI — The Maui Police Commission decided on Wednesday not to place Maui Police Chief John Pelletier on administrative leave over recent allegations in a civil lawsuit that he was involved in a coverup of a gang rape involving music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs in March of 2018.

The Police Commission voted 7-0, with one member excused, not to take action after Pelletier’s attorney said two of the three plaintiffs failed to get permission from the court to make the allegations anonymously and therefore the amended complaint filed on March 7 was not active.

The vote went against the request made last week by Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen to place Pelletier on administrative leave and launch an investigation because of the seriousness of the allegations and in an effort to protect the integrity of the department.

Pelletier was not named in the original lawsuit filed in October in California federal court by Ashley Parham. But in the amended complaint, Parham was joined by two more unnamed plaintiffs, John and Jane Doe, and added several other co-conspirators, including Pelletier.

The two unnamed plaintiffs, a mother and adult son, accused Pelletier of taking them at gunpoint from Las Vegas to a home in Orinda, Calif., where they say Combs tried to frame them for the alleged gang rape.

Pelletier, who at the time was working for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, also was accused of posing as a Contra Costa, Calif., sheriff and deterring local law enforcement from responding to the alleged rape.

On Wednesday, Pelletier’s attorney, Keola Whittaker of Cades Schutte LLP, said that there was a filing error with the lawsuit. He said the two unnamed parties needed permission from the court to be anonymous in the complaint, and until that request was approved, the commission had no active complaint to consider.

“I know the community’s concern is that when there’s smoke, there’s fire, and these claims are sensational,” Whittaker said. “But there’s not even smoke. The court won’t accept this filing. And the commission shouldn’t put the chief on leave based on claims the court won’t even accept.”

Whittaker continued: “No approval means no case. No case means no summons. No summons means no defendant.”

He said the Police Commission could not take action again Pelletier because technically he is not named in an active complaint.

“So right now, this lawsuit isn’t just stalled. It’s stuck at the starting gate,” Whittaker said. “And we have no idea when or if it will move forward. At this stage, it has as much legal weight as a blog post or a TikTok video.”

A status update on the docket for the case noted several electronic filing errors on Friday. One said that the filing could not be processed until a motion and proposed order to proceed using a pseudonym had been filed.

“It’s overwhelming that I have nothing to do with this,” Pelletier told reporters outside the commission meeting room on Wednesday morning. “I don’t know these individuals. I never met them. And the vote today is resounding and says it all.”

Whittaker said he planned to contact the plaintiffs’ attorneys on Wednesday and demand they not include Pelletier in the lawsuit or the chief would pursue sanctions against them. 

“But, if despite all the evidence and all common sense, the attorney still moves forward with the complaint and serves the chief, the chief himself will call for an investigation to clear his name and resolve any doubt that exists in the public about these allegations,” Whittaker said.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative. 

On Monday, Whittaker provided multiple pieces of evidence in a letter to the commission that he said proved Pelletier was in Vegas at the time of the alleged crimes and innocent of the claims, including purchase records, statements from former officers and photos that show he wasn’t bald at the time of a 2018 Super Bowl video that plaintiffs alleged showed him in the background providing private security to Combs. 

Maui County Clerk Moana Lutey, who testified in her personal capacity on Wednesday, said that she spent 20 years in the Department of the Corporation Counsel, the attorneys for the county. Lutey has served under four police chiefs, including Pelletier, and said they were all sued civilly but none of them were placed on leave. Civil complaints require very little investigation, and placing Pelletier on leave could open up the county to even more complaints, she said. 

“You would take a very dangerous position by placing this man on leave when you can see how poorly written this complaint is,” Lutey said. “And also the fact that it’s nothing more than a civil allegation that is now seven years old. I would strongly urge this commission to not buckle to public or political pressures by placing the chief on leave.” 

Maui County spokesperson Laksmi Abraham said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon: “Despite attempts to frame this as a personal dispute between the Chief and the Mayor, the recommendation was a standard procedural step, aligned with established precedent within this administration and always taken with the community’s best interest in mind.” 

Abraham told the Hawaiʻi Journalism Initiative that during Bissen’s administration two appointed officials were placed on leave pending an investigation and were later terminated, actions that “were based on the severity of the concerns.” 

Former Office of Economic Development Director Luana Mahi and former Finance Director Scott Teruya were both placed on leave last year. 

“As public servants, we are held to the highest standards of accountability and integrity,” Bissen said in a statement on Wednesday. “Leadership is not just about defending one’s character but about making decisions that prioritize the stability and well-being of the department above any individual.

“While I respect the commission’s right to disagree, a leave of absence in such cases does not imply an admission of guilt but is a necessary step to protect the department’s reputation, effectiveness and public trust.”

While written testimony provided in advance of the meeting was mixed regarding Pelletier, all nine testifiers who addressed the issue at the commission meeting on Wednesday supported the chief.

They included advocates of Maui’s immigrant population who said Pelletier showed up to “know your rights” training and worked to create a relationship with a community generally fearful of law enforcement. 

Deputy Chief Wade Maeda also backed the chief in public testimony. He said that “when the chief started, I didn’t like him, but we were able to work through that relationship.”

Maeda said he believed the evidence shows Pelletier was never in the area and pointed out that the Contra Costa County sheriff’s office said the charges from the victim were unsubstantiated. The Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative requested comment from the sheriff’s office last week but did not receive a response. 

“Remember now, this is a civil case. This is not a criminal case,” Maeda said. “Someone had asked me previously, if an assistant chief was accused of this, would you have put him on leave? And the easy answer is no. We have officers right now being sued civilly. They’re still working today out on the road. We stand by our men until proven otherwise.” 

Commissioners expressed frustration over the lawsuit, saying they found out about it through the media before they saw the letter from the mayor or were told by the chair of the commission. They questioned the request to put Pelletier on leave. 

“I do find the mayor to be a man of integrity, and he’s trying to do his job as well as he sees fit,” Frank De Rego Jr. said. “But this was a major miscalculation on his part.”