“There was no effort to detain anyone, but police did have further questions this a.m”.
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Police in Rio say they’ve found no evidence supporting Ryan Lochte’s claim that he and three other swimmers were robbed at gunpoint while in the Brazil for the 2016 Olympic Games, according to the Associated Press.
Civil police agents visited the US delegation building on Wednesday and spoke to the head of security there, but neither of the swimmers was present, the paper said.
Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen were the others with Lochte early Sunday morning after a night out on the town.
Lochte said he, Feigen and two other team mates were traveling to the Athletes’ Village in a taxi in the early hours of the morning, after a party, when armed men carrying police badges pulled them over. Lochte has returned home to the United States, his attorney said. The swimmers also could not say what time the events occurred.
There was some confusion on Sunday about whether the robbery actually took place, with Lochte’s mother describing a “terrifying” text message she received from her son but the International Olympic Committee denying anything happened.
Lochte previously said he and his teammates feared that they would get in trouble if they told the USOC about the incident. An IOC spokesman said at a news conference that the USOC had told him that the rumors of Lochte being robbed were untrue.
Rio police commonly struggle to obtain information while investigating street crimes in Brazil as they encounter dozens of robberies a day in the violence-ridden city and lack the resources to get to the bottom of every case. They are typically a bigger problem in the poorer cities where police are less present.
“This happened the way he described it”, Jeff said, adding that Ryan signed a statement this week confirming his story.
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“Ryan was a hundred percent cooperative and fully available when they reached out to us for an interview”, Ostrow said.
