A Brazilian judge ordered on Wednesday evening that the four athletes had to remain in the country while police officials investigated a robbery involving the gold medalist Ryan Lochte, Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen.
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The four swimmers told USOC officials they were in a taxi when they were “stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who demanded the athletes’ money and other personal belongings”, a USOC statement said. Brazilian police have prevented two more USA swimmers from leaving the country after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics over the investigation of a robbery complaint by teammate Ryan Lochte.
A judge ruled Wednesday morning that Lochte and Feigen must stay in Brazil and turn over their passports.
Bentz and Conger were removed from their flight back to the US and were released following questioning by Brazilian police. Embarrassed Rio police said they have found little evidence to support the accounts, and a police source said they are unable to find the taxi driver or witnesses.
According to Peter Alexander of NBC News, the two swimmers who said they were with Lochte when the alleged robbery occurred were “pulled off their plane at [the] Rio airport”.
Bentz and Conger have now been released, US officials say – but the two athletes are going to keep talking with police in Rio. “I was like whatever”, Lochte recalled in one interview.
“It was perceived that the supposed victims arrived with their physical and psychological integrity unshaken, even making jokes with each other”, the judge said, according to the court statement.
Ryan Lochte says he was mugged at gunpoint, but a judge in Rio thinks his claim doesn’t hold water.
When asked by reporters if his clients were indeed robbed, Riera said, “I haven’t managed to talk to them yet”.
The statement from the prosecuting judge, who has authority over cases involving victims attending large special events in Brazil, also questioned the behavior of the swimmers when they arrived back at the Olympic Village after being robbed.
The Daily Mail published security footage of the swimmers returning to the athletes village “several hours” after the alleged robbery.
Lochte’s father had told The Associated Press by phone that his gold-medal-winning son called him after arriving in the us and told him he was going to pick up his vehicle and buy a new wallet to replace the one he said was stolen during the robbery.
The Games’ swimming competition ended Saturday. I don’t know what they’re trying to do down there.
“They were robbed at gunpoint – the way he described it”, Ostrow said. It said they had been released, with the understanding they would discuss the incident Thursday.
The police interview was friendly and casual, much less intense than one he went through with police in the US when he reported a home burglary, he said. After Lochte refused to get down, he said a man cocked a gun and pressed it against his head. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.
Directing traffic in front of the busy club, city worker Djaer Junior said he was working the overnight shift Sunday but did not remember anything out of the ordinary, or Lochte and his shock of dyed blond hair.
Lochte told the newspaper “USA Today” that he and his teammates didn’t initially tell the US Olympic officials about the robbery “because we were afraid we’d get in trouble”. The U.S. Olympic Committee later confirmed their detention.
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Ileana Lochte, his protective Cuban-American mother, was at times contradicting her son, saying that he was indeed robbed.
