B.J. Penn is officially coming out of retirement, but his legal troubles might not be done yet.
The Hilo (Hawaii) Police Department has launched a second-degree sexual assault investigation into the UFC legend stemming from allegations made by the girlfriend of a former employee, sources told MMA Fighting.
The alleged victim filed an incident report in February regarding the matter in Delaware County (Ohio), where she currently lives. Hilo PD public information officer Chris Loos confirmed to MMA Fighting on Monday that the Hilo PD received a hard copy of that incident report last week.
Loos said a second-degree sexual assault investigation has been initiated, but could not comment on the names of any of the parties involved or any details. Sources confirmed with MMA Fighting that Penn is the subject.
On Monday in an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Penn would not go into detail about the situation, saying his lawyers would likely not want him to do so. He did address the allegations, however.
"It put me on the backburner for a little while," Penn said. "That definitely hurt my heart. I've got kids, I've got two baby daughters, and of course something like that is going to hurt your heart. People know who I am and what you see is what you get with me. I'm just a family man, I've got two kids, and you know, that's it. I wish I could get into more, but I'm sure my lawyers wouldn't appreciate that."
LINK: Police launch investigation into sexual assault allegations made against B.J. Penn
