RIO DE JANEIRO A judge in Brazil has issued an order to prevent US swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen from leaving the country on the grounds they gave conflicting accounts of their robbery outside the Rio Games on Sunday, a Brazilian daily said on Wednesday. Police interviewed Lochte and one other swimmer, who said they had been intoxicated and could not remember what type and colour of taxi they rode in or where the robbery happened, the police official said.
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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 is home in the United States.
Judge Keyla Blank of Brazil ordered the seizure of both Feigen and Lochte’s passports on Wednesday, according to a report from NBCOlympics.com.This move by the judge makes it seem like the Brazilian officials don’t believe Lochte’s story and there has also been very little evidence to support their account.
Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, two swimming teammates of Lochte’s, were pulled off their night time flight out of Rio and detained by police.
The U.S. State Department issued a statement Wednesday encouraging those involved to co-operate with Brazilian law enforcement. Lochte’s attorney said he stands by his story and that Brazil is doing this to deflect criticism of problems at the Rio games.
The group did not call police, authorities said, and officers began investigating once they saw media reports in which Lochte’s mother spoke about the robbery.
It’s been a dramatic week for Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.
Feigen swam in the 4x100m freestyle relay; he lives in Charlotte, N.C., according to his official Olympics biography. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. A surveillance video was released that showed the swimmers returning to the Olympic Village after the alleged robbery. The swimmers also could not say what time the events occurred.
Lochte described the incident to NBC’s “Today” show Sunday.
Lochte said he initially did not tell the USOC that he and the other three swimmers were victims of a robbery early Sunday morning “because we were afraid we’d get in trouble”. “I refused, I was like we didn’t do anything wrong, so – I’m not getting down on the ground”, Lochte said after the night in question.
Steve Bentz, father of Gunnar Bentz, when reached by phone late Wednesday night, said: “I really don’t want to say anything”, and hung up. He also says they put a gun to his head and took his wallet but left his phone and accreditation.
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But Lochte had already left for the USA, and his attorney told NPR earlier today that he had not received any official requests to speak wih the decorated Olympic swimmer.
