On October 1, 2017, photographs rang out all around the Las Vegas Strip as concertgoers on the Route 91 Harvest music pageant fled to security.
In whole, 59 folks had been killed and over 500 injured throughout the chaos that erupted from above on the nation music gathering.
John Pelletier, then a captain with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division, was the incident commander and was tasked with managing the in depth crime scene.
After an extremely controversial investigation, it was decided that Stephen Paddock, 64, was the lone gunman who opened fireplace on the gang from the Mandalay Bay resort, positioned adjoining to and above the music venue.
The evaluation was woefully insufficient, seemingly omitting hordes of proof together with 911 calls and proof that recommended a number of shooters and suspicious circumstances relating to plane overhead earlier than and after the occasions. A number of helicopters started hovering over the occasion 10 to fifteen minutes previous to the taking pictures earlier than turning off their transponders whereas one other helicopter appeared on radar as a Southwest Airways commuter jet.
Vegas-local Mindy Robinson put collectively an unbelievable documentary exposing the inadequacies of the investigation. You possibly can view that documentary here.
Following the occasions in Las Vegas, Pelletier moved to Maui, Hawaii and was named police chief on December 15, 2021.
Once more, tragedy would discover Pelletier as he was the top legislation enforcement officer throughout the August 8th, 2023 Lahaina Fire, which claimed 102 lives.
As soon as once more, quite a few claims of mismanagement arose following the hearth. They included a scarcity of planning, ineffective or unavailable superior warning programs, and potential evacuation routes blocked by particles and, in lots of circumstances, cops.
Whereas he remained because the Maui Police Chief following the Lahaina Hearth, there are actually requires him to be positioned on administrative depart, together with from the Maui mayor.
The requires administrative depart are along with him being named as a co-defendant in a federal lawsuit levied towards disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Bother definitely appears to observe this man wherever he might go.
The lawsuit was originally filed in October 2024 by Ashley Parham together with an nameless man and girl. On March seventh, that criticism was amended to incorporate Chief Pelletier, in addition to many different notable figures together with former NFL star Odell Beckham, Jr., singer Jacquelyn “Jaguar” Wright, and Keith Lucks aka “Large Homie CC,” amongst others.
The next are claims from the criticism filed in federal court docket and all defendants are afforded the presumption of innocence.
NEW: Maui Police Chief John Pelletier named in Diddy lawsuit, is accused of being a co-conspirator.
Pelletier is accused of being concerned in a cover-up for a gang r*pe when he was working as a Las Vegas police captain.
Based on the accuser, Pelletier “posed” as a… pic.twitter.com/8ep6qYgEWG
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 11, 2025
The allegations relating to Pelletier stem from 2018, when he was employed to supply safety for Combs. Based on the criticism, one of many co-defendants, Shane Pearce, invited the plaintiff, Ashley Parham, to his home on March 23, 2018, following an altercation that he intervened in at a bar a month prior.
Combs confirmed up on the residence with an entourage and finally threatened to offer Parham a “Glasgow smile” for disparaging remarks she made about Combs’ alleged involvement in rapper Tupac Shakur’s homicide. A “Glasgow smile” refers to cuts constructed from the nook of the mouth, by the cheek and again in direction of one’s ear, just like Heath Ledger’s ‘Joker’ within the Darkish Knight sequence.
Following the remarks, Combs and several other different co-defendants brutally raped the plaintiff, based on the criticism. Parham was in a position to escape after slashing Combs with a knife within the stomach and ran outdoors screaming for the police. As gunshots rang out in her course, Parham fled to a neighbor’s home and advised them she was raped by Combs. The neighbor knowledgeable her that they’d already referred to as the police.
A person dressed as a Contra Costa Sheriff confirmed up on the residence, nevertheless, Parham claims that it was truly John Pelletier dressed as a legislation enforcement officer. As Parham advised him that she was violently gang-raped by Combs and others, he advised her that the police had acquired a number of noise complaints and that she wanted to “discover a method to get residence.”
He didn’t supply her a experience residence nor did he name any emergency companies. There was no try to assist her retrieve any of her private belongings both.
Based on the criticism, Pelletier handed the neighbor what seemed to be an envelope that Parham believed was full of money. The neighbor went inside their residence after which rapidly returned empty-handed.
Parham would finally retrieve her belongings and keys and depart, regardless of makes an attempt to persuade her to remain.
The Contra Costa Sheriff’s workplace confirmed there was a police report that evening made by Parham however refused to launch any info when requested by Freedom of Data Act requests. These denials embody requests from counsel concerned within the litigation, stating they’d solely launch it if it had been subpoenaed.
Previous to the alleged gang rape of Parham, plaintiffs John and Jane Doe, a mom and son, declare that Pelletier had taken them at gunpoint from their Las Vegas properties and “instructed them to get right into a black SUV relating to extraditing Plaintiffs for warrants to California.”
When the duo requested to see the warrants, Pelletier alleged threatened to shoot them in the event that they “protested additional.”
The 2 had been then transported to what they believed was Pelletier’s residence on Bay St., in Las Vegas, the place they had been introduced inside and bodily restrained. Finally, they had been loaded again into an SUV after which proceeded to be trafficked to “numerous areas all through California” to a string of “protected homes,” with Danville, CA, being the primary place they had been in a position to establish.
The mom and son finally ended up on the location the place Parham was allegedly being gang raped. The son was prompted to take part whereas the mom, herself, claimed she was sexually assaulted by Ruben Valdez.
When the mom and son had been in a position to escape, they fled to a neighbor and begged them to name 911. The neighbor refused.
The 2 hid till legislation enforcement responded, nevertheless, based on the criticism, Pelletier intercepted the police and advised them there was an ongoing federal investigation into drug-trafficking happening. Pelletier advised the police that the plaintiffs had been “suspects” within the investigation, and that they had been homeless.
Defendant Matias Gonzalez then transported the plaintiffs away from the scene and, after a confrontation relating to cost with two different co-defendants, “gave Plaintiffs the keys to the SUV and launched them.”
The Plaintiffs drove away, finally stopping to ask for instructions to a police station. Neither had telephones or a GPS. Plaintiffs went to a police station in Orinda, CA and spoke with an officer, however stopped in need of submitting a police report, claiming they recalled defendants saying they’d be “deemed loopy and non-believable.”
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen has requested the Police Commissioner to position Pelletier on administrative depart whereas they conduct an investigation.
Maui Police Division spokesperson Alana Pico denied the allegations, based on MauiNow.com, telling them in an e-mail:
“Chief Pelletier has no connections in any respect to any people named within the lawsuit. The allegations suggesting his involvement are solely unfounded. We’re assured that the proof will exhibit these claims to be false and can expose those that are intentionally attempting to govern the authorized system to unfold deceptive narratives.”
In re: new Plaintiffs John and Jane Doe in Parham v. Combs,
The Plaintiffs allege that they had been kidnapped at gunpoint by alleged Diddy coconspirator John Pelletier and transported to his residence, then traveled to California in a convoy that included Kristina Khorram. pic.twitter.com/Vb3qxOMz2w
— ⚖️ The Diddy Docket (@diddydocket) March 8, 2025
