Maui Police Chief John Pelletier is claiming the reason he was put on paid leave earlier in the week was due to ongoing criminal investigations into Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen.

Pelletier made the allegations during a news conference on O‘ahu on Friday afternoon, two days after the Maui Police Commission voted unanimously to place him on paid leave during an independent investigation into Pelletier’s oversight of the Criminal Intelligence Unit. The head of the unit, Lt. Michael Vaituulala, was arrested by federal authorities in August and charged with bribery.

“I believe this is a direct result of criminal investigations involving the mayor and his office that began in July of this year,” Pelletier said.

It is not clear why Pelletier held the press conference on Oʻahu and not Maui.

Pelletier said one of the investigations involved allegations by former chief of staff Leo Caires, who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Bissen in April, and the second investigation involved “a felonious crime, and the mayor is the suspect.”

The chief also claimed that he had evidence that the mayor influenced the Police Commission in its decision. 

Bissen’s administration strongly denied the allegations on Friday. Maui County spokesperson Laksmi Abraham said the mayor had no knowledge of either investigation that Pelletier had referred to. She said Pelletier’s claims that the alleged investigations were the reason he was put on leave “are completely false.”

“Mayor Bissen had no involvement in the decision to place the Chief on administrative leave,” she said via email on Friday evening. “Under the Maui County Charter, the Mayor has no oversight authority over the Chief of Police. That authority rests solely with the Police Commission, which made its decision independently.”

In August, the commission voted to hire an independent investigator to look into Pelletier’s oversight of the Criminal Intelligence Unit after reviewing the allegations in the complaint against Vaituulala.

In a letter from the Police Commission to Pelletier on Wednesday, Chairperson Frank Tam said the commission voted to place him on leave effective immediately because “your presence at work would be detrimental to the investigation and to the operations of the Department.”

“Further, this leave is intended to protect the independence and integrity of the investigation and ensure public trust and confidence in the Maui Police Department,” Tam said. “It is an interim administrative measure and the Commission has made no finding of misconduct.”

Abraham said Bissen did not urge the commission to place the chief on leave. 

In a statement on Friday, Bissen said: “I acknowledge the difficult responsibility our volunteer Maui County Police Commissioners carry, particularly during challenging times like these. I support their commitment to listening to our community and making decisions that serve the best interests of the people of Maui Nui.”

Pelletier said Friday that he learned he had been placed on leave from a news alert on his phone after returning from an FBI National Academy conference in New Jersey. He said he was “told in written communication that the meeting on Wednesday was going to be ‘just commission business,’ and that the deputy chief nor I needed to be there.”

But the Police Commission’s publicly posted agenda for Wednesday said there would be “discussion and possible action” on the commission’s investigation into the chief’s oversight of the unit “and any related supervisory actions concerning the Chief of Police.”

Pelletier said he took issue with his name even being linked to a criminal case “that we have nothing to do with.” He put distance between himself and Vaituulala, saying “he reports to the deputy chief, not me. I am not his direct boss.”

Eric Seitz, Pelletier’s attorney, said during the news conference that “there has been no allegation anywhere, by anybody, let alone by the federal government, which is handling that case, that Chief Pelletier is in any way implicated by what the lieutenant is alleged to have done.”

“If there were a legitimate investigation and there were some evidence or some allegation that can be taken seriously, that he’s involved in wrongdoing, then yes, he probably should be placed on leave or at least isolated and insulated from any investigation,” Seitz said. “But there’s no justification. None anywhere.”

Both Seitz and Pelletier claimed that Bissen’s response to a previous lawsuit involving Pelletier was an example of his attempts to influence the commission in the past.

In March 2025, Pelletier was named in a lawsuit alleging he posed as a sheriff to a woman who reported being raped by Sean “Diddy” Combs. 

At the time, Bissen sent a letter to the commission recommending that Pelletier be placed on leave while the lawsuit claims were under investigation. The mayor recognized that the allegations were unproven but serious. He said that “due process must be observed, but the existence of these allegations alone presents concerns regarding public trust and the effective functioning of the department.”

But the commission ultimately voted not to place Pelletier on leave, and the lawsuit was dismissed in December.

When asked by reporters if he was making the felony claims against the mayor out of retaliation with just a month to go before the general election, Pelletier said that the criminal investigation began in July before Vaituulala was arrested in August. 

Pelletier did not provide details on the alleged investigation involving a felony, saying he was “formally recused from this.”

“I do not participate or have knowledge of what the day to day is going on,” he said.

Seitz said that the investigation related to the lawsuit by Caires, who claims he was fired for blowing the whistle on suspected fraudulent activity within the county, “was requested to be undertaken by the chair of the … county council.”

Maui County Council Chair Alice Lee said via text on Friday evening that she had sent MPD a letter to ask if they had investigated the criminal allegations in the Leo Caires case. 

“The answer was no but they would conduct one if asked,” Lee said. “So I asked. However, they subsequently said that the matter was turned over to the State AG (Attorney General) by the Prosecutor. Presumably, the State AG will handle the investigation and any legal issues.”

Lee said she was “not aware of any other specific investigation in the Mayor’s Office.”

Caires had claimed that former Office of Economic Development Director Luana Mahi used her position to direct grants to family members. Mahi was placed on paid leave in August 2024 pending an investigation and was fired in January 2025. 

Abraham had confirmed earlier this year that Mahi’s case was with the state Attorney General’s office, but when asked for comment, the department said that it “will not make statements on the existence or status of specific investigations or about possible pending cases.” 

Mahi sued the mayor and the Board of Ethics for defamation in July.

Pelletier said the department is looking at creating a new “Corruption, Integrity, Intel” unit dealing with “levels of corruption at all facets within the county.” The Criminal Intelligence Unit run by Vaituulala has since been disbanded. 

The commission asked Pelletier to turn in all department- and county-issued property upon his return to Maui, including his badge and gun. The commission also directed him not to interfere with the investigation and to “preserve all records, messages, files and other information” related to the Criminal Intelligence Unit investigation.

Pelletier, who is still receiving pay and benefits while on leave, noted that he doesn’t have a term limit, “and I’m never leaving,” though the commission has the power to remove him if it chooses. 

Deputy Chief Wade Maeda is serving as acting chief while Pelletier is on leave.