The Maui Police Commission declined on Wednesday to place Police Chief John Pelletier on leave over allegations in a lawsuit that he was involved in a sex trafficking conspiracy led by the disgraced rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Pelletier, who joined the Maui Police Department in 2021, was a Las Vegas police captain at the time, in charge of an area including the famed stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard known as The Strip.

The commission’s unanimous decision, supported by all seven members, was made in response to Maui Mayor Richard Bissen’s recommendation last week to temporarily place Pelletier on leave. The chief was one of more than a dozen defendants — including Combs, former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and comedian Drew “Druski” Desbordes —  named on March 7 in a civil lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California by Ashley Parham and two unnamed plaintiffs. 

Keola R. Whittaker, a lawyer for Pelletier, said after the meeting that he was happy with the decision. The Maui Police Commission has sole authority to hire and fire the police chief.

Written comments submitted by the community before Wednesday’s meeting were split regarding the mayor’s recommendation, but testimony during the meeting overwhelmingly dismissed the allegations against Pelletier and supported allowing him to continue leading the police department. 

Whittaker argued Pelletier could prove — with bank statements, time-stamped text messages and other evidence — that he was in Las Vegas during moments that the lawsuit alleged he was posing as a law enforcement officer in Contra Costa County, California.

“I know the concerns are that if there is smoke, there is fire. But there’s not even smoke here,” he told commissioners.

According to the lawsuit, Parham told Pelletier she had just narrowly escaped to a neighbor’s house after being violently gang raped by Combs and others in an Orinda, California, home in March 2018. Pelletier did not offer to call emergency services or help her recover various belongings from the home, Parham alleges. She claims she later saw Pelletier give the neighbor what she believed to be an envelope of cash, according to court documents. 

The two unnamed plaintiffs — a mother and a son, identified as Jane and John Doe — say they witnessed the assault on Parham after Pelletier had abducted them from their Las Vegas home and brought them to California at gunpoint, according to the lawsuit. Later, Pelletier — posing as a federal law enforcement officer —  interfered when they tried to report the crime to a local police officer, according to court documents.

Three days after Pelletier was added to the lawsuit, Bissen sent a letter to the Maui Police Commission urging them to place Pelletier on leave and to conduct an independent investigation.

“While the allegations in the amended complaint remain unproven, they are serious in nature and involve claims of alleged criminal conduct,” Bissen said in the letter. “This approach does not constitute a presumption of guilt but ensures that the individual in question is not in a position that may compromise the integrity of the office while the matter is under review.”

Last week, Nicholas Krau, chair of the Maui chapter of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, said in a statement that all officers facing serious misconduct allegations have a right to “a thorough and objective” investigation, and that the chief should be treated the same as a patrol officer.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Krau said the union respected the commission’s decision.

“Further, the commission’s actions today help clarify that if one of our officers faces unproven allegations, they will not face professional consequences by being placed on administrative leave,” he said.

In two statements provided last week by department spokeswoman Alana Pico, Pelletier vehemently denied the allegations and said he was “deeply disappointed by the rush to judgment” and by calls for the commission to place him on leave.

“This was done without allowing me to present documented proof of my whereabouts on the dates of these alleged incidents — evidence that categorically disproves these claims,” he said in a statement provided on Thursday.

Pelletier said he had never been to Contra Costa County or the city of Orinda, and he provided financial transaction records as well as texts and signed statements from former colleagues that he was on call in Las Vegas during the days in question. Whittaker also noted that a photo attached to the lawsuit allegedly showed Pelletier behind Combs at the 2018 Super Bowl in Minnesota. While the man in the photo is bald, photos taken during the same time period show Pelletier had hair at that time, he said.

Before voting on how to respond to the mayor’s recommendation, some commissioners said they worried Bissen may have been influenced by longstanding tension between himself and Pelletier when he called for the chief to be placed on leave.

“I think the administration’s actions regarding this action are concerning. I really do,” said commissioner Frank De Rego Jr. He added, “I think there are things going on here that we are not aware of in terms of the relationship between the mayor and the police chief.”

In a statement, Maui County spokesperson Laksmi Abraham said that “despite attempts to frame this as a personal dispute,” Bissen’s recommendation was “a standard procedural step, aligned with established precedent within this administration.”

“Given the seriousness of these allegations, the administration has consistently maintained that this matter must be addressed through an impartial investigation or legal process — not media speculation,” the statement said.

Bissen stood by his recommendation after the commission’s decision. “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,” he said in the county’s statement.

After the police commission meeting, Pelletier was indignant about the “false” and “baseless” claims in the lawsuit. “I don’t know these individuals and I’ve never met them,” he said. 

He added that the accusations have negatively affected his entire family, including his teenage children and wife.

“Nobody has apologized to them, to my wife, to the police department, for the pain this has caused,” he said.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.