B.J. Penn is apparently dealing with a multitude of legal issues in Hawaii.
In recent weeks, records surfaced indicating that UFC Hall-of-Famer B.J. Penn was issued a restraining order by his estranged partner for a variety of issues regarding her and their two children. Today, MMA Junkie unearthed another legal issue that Penn is dealing with – he is being accused of threatening a farmer with a machete.
According to the article, Penn is under police investigation for a January 2018 incident where a trespassing issue led Penn to allegedly threaten a taro farmer with a machete. He was accused of “first-degree terroristic threatening”, which is a felony. The maximum punishment is five years in jail and a 10k fine.
Apparently the case is still active because, according to the prosecutor, not all of the parties involved in the incident have been located as of yet.
MMA Junkie spoke to Penn’s lawyer, who issued the following statement regarding the incident:
“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.”
As of this writing, Penn is still scheduled to face off with Clay Guida at UFC 237. UFC president Dana White confirmed that, despite the various legal issues Penn is dealing with, he was still set to compete as far as he knew. He did state that the UFC will be looking into his issues though.