On Thursday they announced that they had charged Lochte with filing a false robbery report.
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“If he is summoned and does not turn up to the hearing, the trial will go ahead in the accused’s absence until the final sentence is given”.
The disgraced Olympic star will be summoned to give testimony over his “overexaggerated” claims of being robbed at gunpoint along with three other USA swimmers during the recent Rio Olympics, according to a new report.
Authorities said there was no robbery, but security guards had drawn guns and stopped the swimmers from leaving after they vandalized the gas station.
Lochte was the breakout star of the London 2012 Olympics, landing a short-lived reality TV series called “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” and appearing, as himself, on top shows such as “30 Rock” and “90210”.
The police issued a statement confirming the indictment, saying “The investigation was concluded on Thursday and Olympic American swimmer Ryan Lochte was indicted for the crime of falsely reporting a crime”.
Lochte has since apologized for the incident and for trying to cover it up, but he still had charges placed against him.
Surveillance footage only backed Brazilian police’s story, as the swimmers were seen exiting the Rio gas station.
Lochte had left Brazil the day after the incident at the petrol station took place.
The swimmer could also face disciplinary action over the incident by USA Swimming and the International Olympic Committee.
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“The police did confirm one element that’s common to all versions of the events that transpired around 6 a.m. local time this past Sunday: that the group of US swimmers had a gun pointed at them”. “If I hadn’t exaggerated the story or told the entire story, none of this would have happened”, he said in an interview with NBC. He has already gained a new sponsor in Pine Brothers cough drops, who signed him to appear in their new ads.
