Former UFC champion B.J. Penn is currently being investigated for allegedly threatening a taro farmer with a machete following a dispute over trespassing back in 2018, according to public records obtained by MMA Junkie.
This news comes less than two weeks after Penn was accused of sexual assault and violence by the mother of his children.
Per public records, Penn’s alleged machete incident occurred on Jan. 19, 2018. The Hawaiian Police Department issued an all-state bulletin at that time stating that Penn was wanted for arrest. The 40-year-old UFC veteran was accused of first-degree terroristic threatening, which is a Class C felony carrying up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000.
Sergeant Jason Grouns of the Hawaii Police Department, who spoke with MMA Junkie earlier this week, said the case has remained open over the past 15 months because “all parties involved have not been located (or) contacted yet, and it cannot be routed to the prosecutors until complete.”
Penn’s alleged threat occurred during a dispute over access to his property in Waipio Valley, which resides next to the victim’s own taro farm. According to the APB obtained by MMA Junkie, Penn brought a machete to the man’s property and called him to come out of his farm house. The alleged victim “feared for his life and remained inside of his residence where he hid.” At that point, Penn reportedly “started to strike the ground with the machete and state that he was going to kill him.”
Penn allegedly came back to the man’s house later that day and damaged an entry gate with his ATV. Per the report, the victim “felt unsafe there and feared for his life so he left the area and reported the incident to police.”
Gary Levitt, attorney to the Penn family, spoke with MMA Junkie and denied any violent acts by Penn, who he says has yet to be contacted by police.
“B.J. said he’s never given a statement to the police; they haven’t told him he’s got a terroristic threatening charge, or there are charges pending,” Levitt said. “He just said there was an incident, it was over one year ago, and it had to do with a gate. There was no threatening or machete or anything like that.”
Penn, who has lost his last six Octagon appearances, is currently scheduled to fight Clay Guida at UFC 237 on May 11 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That is, of course, unless either of the two recent allegations against “Prodigy” prevent him from returning to action.
Stick with Mania for more news on this developing story.