A 43-year-old Halawa prison guard who was being investigated for first-degree sexual assault of a 28-year-old male inmate committed suicide six days after the alleged rape occurred.

The 17-year veteran of the Public Safety Department also left a video message denying any rape, alleging the inmate set him up and schemed to obtain money from him.

The Department of Public Safety and the Honolulu Police Department are investigating a complaint submit­- ted by the inmate on Sept. 1 against Adult Correction Officer Larry Eugene Peppers.

Peppers was never arrested by police, but was the subject of a first-degree sexual assault case.

Public Safety said he was employed with the department from July 17, 2001 until his death on Sept. 7, and that he had no disciplinary history.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said Peppers, a Waianae resident, died from a gunshot wound in the mouth, and ruled the death a suicide.

Public Safety officials said they transferred the Halawa Correctional Facility inmate to the Honolulu Federal Detention Center after he was allegedly sexually assaulted.

Myles Breiner, the inmate’s attorney, said the transfer was made due to safety concerns for his client, who finally feels safe. “Our client is relieved somebody finally believed this was happening,” he said.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser is not naming the inmate as its practice is not to name sexual assault victims.

The inmate was 19 when he was sentenced in 2009 to 15 years’ imprisonment for assault and robbery, which led to the death of a good Samaritan (for which a co-defendant was held responsible).

Breiner and his associate, Moani Crowell, said their client is recovering from “horrific injuries,” compounded by psychological damage. He was taken to the hospital and held overnight because of profuse bleeding, Breiner said.

On the day of his death, Peppers posted an online video, viewed thousands of times, admitting to being bisexual.

“I am definitely guilty for disgracing the department by fraternizing with this guy and getting close to him,” he said. “It’s for that reason I’m creating my own punishment. I just refuse to be in this world.

“Now that this is out and everybody knows, I can’t look at people the same. People can’t accept the sexuality situation. Some can; some can’t. But I can’t live with it. That’s why I’ve kept it hid for the past 30 years. For the last 17 years that I’ve been within the department, I never disgraced it.”

He alleged in the video that an unnamed person told him the inmate had been plotting to get money from him by tricking him into ejaculating into his underwear to satisfy a fetish. He then alleged the inmate took the underwear, liquefied the semen and inserted it into his own rectum.

“I fell victim to his game,” said Peppers in the video. “I was set up. He thought I had $2 million.”

Breiner Alleges that Peppers has a history of engaging in sexual relations with inmates over a number of years.

He called Peppers’ version of what happened “entertaining,” and “completely inconceivable and utterly implausible.”

Public Safety officials did not respond to Breiner’s allegations that Peppers had a history of having sex with inmates, saying the investigation is ongoing.

Breiner said he is concerned that since Peppers is dead, police and Public Safety may not want to pursue the investigation. Both agencies say they are actively investigating the case, but cannot comment because it’s ongoing.

Breiner said the Department of the Attorney General is also investigating.

Public Safety did not answer questions concerning how such cases are handled or whether Peppers was placed on administrative leave, but did say Halawa is current on its Prison Rape Elimination Act certification.

Crowell said the sexual assault of this inmate is “indicative of the tip of the iceberg of the problem,” and demonstrates it happens to male and female inmates, and that there is empirical evidence and scholarly literature of underreporting and delayed reporting by both genders.

Peppers said in the video he knew the inmate since he was a boy and taught him to box.

He said the inmate offered to cut his hair, so during a lockdown head count he called him into a storage closet, but claimed the inmate initiated sexual advances and had earlier seduced him.

At one point in the video, Peppers talked about going into the closet with the inmate. He denied raping the inmate and forcing himself on him, and said he did not want to go to court to explain it.

“I am a decent person,” Peppers said. “I just lived an alternative lifestyle that many would not understand. This guy totally manipulated this situation. I am disgraced by it. … All that was important to me was my job, and they took it from me.”