BJ Penn Reportedly Under Investigation for Alleged Sexual Assault

Police in Hilo, Hawaii, are reportedly investigating BJ Penn for an alleged sexual assault, per MMA Fighting's Marc Raimondi.

The alleged victim filed a report in Delaware County, Ohio, on Feb. 16, and authorities in Ohio then forwarded the information to their counterparts in Hawaii, where the alleged sexual assault took place.

In a string of profane tweets (warning: link contains NSFW language) posted to his now-private Twitter account in February, former BJPenn.com writer Pedro Alex Carrasco said Penn sexually assaulted his girlfriend (via Zane Simon of SB Nation's Bloody Elbow).

Penn refuted the allegations through a representative in a statement on BJPenn.com:

"

Penn trusted Pedro to run his website for almost a decade and considered him family. He was fired last year for unethical behavior and was provided a severence that ended on February 16, 2016. One day later allegations appeared in a one sided Twitter rant which happen to be many months after the alleged date in question (August of 2015). There are many holes in Pedro’s story. In the almost 15 years that Penn has been a champion fighter there has not ever been any incident or allegation in regards to his conduct with women. He is family man and father of two young daughters with a known long term girlfriend. It is unfortunate that someone that BJ considered family is trying to extort him.

"

Shortly thereafter, the UFC pushed back Penn's potential return to the Octagon to determine whether he violated any terms of the company's fighter-conduct policy.

Last Tuesday, UFC President Dana White confirmed to Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole that Penn is set to fight Dennis Siver at UFC 199 on June 4 in Los Angeles. Lawrence Epstein, the UFC's chief operating officer, specifically addressed Penn's ongoing legal situation, telling Iole the company could potentially re-evaluate Penn's status pending further action by a law enforcement agency.