HONOLULU, Hawaii — President Obama is golfing at Mamala Bay Golf Course at Hickam Air Force Base in a group that includes White House travel director Marvin Nicholson and Hawaiian pal Robert “Bobby” Titcomb, who was arrested in April on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute.

In April, Titcomb was one of four men arrested in an undercover prostitution sting operation, according to Honolulu police.

Titcomb, an airline employee and commercial fisherman, has been friends with the president since they attended Honolulu’s elite Punahou School together in the 1970s. He has visited the White House on numerous occasions to see the president, most recently in August for Obama’s birthday, when he was included in a round of golf with Obama’s closest friends at the links of Andrews Air Force Base. Afterwards Titcomb, among other friends, joined the president for a barbeque at the White House.

When the Obama family vacations in Hawaii over the Christmas holiday each year, they traditionally spend a full day at Titcomb’s North Shore home, jet-skiing, grilling, and playing volleyball. In December the Obama family spent nearly the whole day at his home. Titcomb is also included in the golf and basketball outings of President Obama while in Hawaii.

In a Punahou remembrance of Obama, Titcomb said of the president, “He’s honest, he’s truthful and he’s always encouraged the better things in you. And you always go back to those people who water your plant, who water your garden.”

– Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller