{"id":30044,"date":"2016-08-19T08:03:37","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T15:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/brazilian-police-lochte-athletes-were-not-robbed\/"},"modified":"2016-08-19T08:03:37","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T15:03:37","slug":"brazilian-police-lochte-athletes-were-not-robbed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/brazilian-police-lochte-athletes-were-not-robbed\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazilian police: Lochte, athletes were not robbed"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIO DE JANEIRO <\/strong>\u2014 Brazilian police said Thursday that swimmer Ryan Lochte and U.S. teammates were not robbed after a night of partying, and that the intoxicated athletes instead vandalized a gas station bathroom and were questioned by armed guards before they paid for the damage and left.<\/p>\n

The robbery that was or wasn\u2019t has become the biggest spectacle outside of the Olympic venues in Rio, and given American Olympians a black eye in Brazil after an otherwise remarkable run at the Summer Games. The ordeal was also a blow to Brazilians, who for months endured scrutiny about whether a city that has long had problems with violence would be able to keep athletes and tourists safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo robbery was committed against these athletes. They were not victims of the crimes they claimed,\u201d Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso said during an afternoon news conference.<\/p>\n

But the police account raised questions about whether it\u2019s possible Lochte and the swimmers believed they were victims of a robbery. Lochte\u2019s attorney has maintained that one took place and insisted the swimmer had nothing to gain by making the story up. He, as well as Lochte\u2019s father and agent, did not return phone calls seeking comment.<\/p>\n

The swimmers could potentially face punishment \u2014 probation, suspension, a fine or expulsion \u2014 under USA Swimming\u2019s code of conduct, which prohibits dishonesty or fraud. It was not immediately clear if the organization planned to act. It was also not clear if the swimmers would face criminal charges.<\/p>\n

Lochte initially said that he and teammates Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen were held at gunpoint and robbed after a night of partying on the final night of Olympic swimming. Police said earlier this week that they couldn\u2019t find evidence to substantiate the claim, and a judge ordered the swimmers\u2019 passports held as the investigation continued. Lochte had already returned to the U.S. but the others stayed, and Conger and Bentz were pulled off a plane at the Rio airport.<\/p>\n

While some details in the official account of the story changed on Thursday \u2014 police first said no guns were involved, then backtracked and said two guards pointed weapons in their direction \u2014 security video confirmed that the athletes vandalized parts of the gas station, leading to an encounter with station employees.<\/p>\n

The closed-circuit video shows one of the swimmers pulling a sign off of a wall and dropping it onto the ground. A gas station worker arrives, and other workers go to inspect the damage. Veloso said the swimmers broke a door, a soap dispenser and a mirror.<\/p>\n

The swimmers eventually talk with security guards, who persuade them to walk to another section of the station. Their cab leaves.<\/p>\n

As they talk, two of the swimmers put their hands up and all four sit down on a curb. After several minutes, they stand up and appear to exchange something \u2014 perhaps cash, as police said \u2014 with one of the men.<\/p>\n

A police official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing said two guards pointed guns at the swimmers. Veloso said the guards did not use excessive force and would have been justified in drawing their guns because the athletes \u201cwere conducting themselves in a violent way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A station employee called police, and the guards and employees tried to get the swimmers and the taxi driver to stay until authorities arrived, some even offering to help as an interpreter, Veloso said. But he said the athletes wanted to leave, so paid 100 Brazilian reals (about US $33) and $20 in U.S. currency and left.<\/p>\n

Conger and Bentz told authorities after they were taken off the plane that the story of the robbery had been fabricated, said the police official who told the AP about the guns pointed at the swimmers.<\/p>\n

Bentz and Conger gave testimony late Thursday. Upon leaving a police station in the upscale neighborhood of Leblon, they walked through a crowd of dozens of journalists and onlookers without stopping or answering questions. A few people in the crowd shouted at them, calling them \u201cliars\u201d and \u201cshameful.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if Feigen, who spoke to police on Sunday, was going to provide give another statement.<\/p>\n

Police said the swimmers were unable to provide key details in early interviews, saying they had been intoxicated. The police official said officers grew suspicious when security video showed the swimmers returning to the athletes village and saw them wearing watches, which would have likely been taken in a robbery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over,\u201d Lochte told NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d the morning after the incident. \u201cThey pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground \u2014 they got down on the ground. I refused, I was like we didn\u2019t do anything wrong, so \u2014 I\u2019m not getting down on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, \u2018Get down,\u2019 and I put my hands up, I was like \u2018whatever.\u2019 He took our money, he took my wallet \u2014 he left my cellphone, he left my credentials.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Lochte backed off some of those claims as the week went on, saying the taxi wasn\u2019t pulled over by men but rather the athletes were robbed after stopping at a gas station. Lochte also said a man pointed a gun toward him, but didn\u2019t put the gun to his head.<\/p>\n

Authorities said that after the incident, the swimmers did not call police; officers began investigating after they saw news coverage with Lochte\u2019s mother speaking about the incident.<\/p>\n

Lochte told USA Today that the swimmers didn\u2019t initially tell U.S. Olympic officials about the incident because \u201cwe were afraid we\u2019d get in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debacle prompted both wild speculation and social media mockery, which quickly turned to scorn after the official account went public. #LochteGate was trending on Twitter, with users sharing video footage and posting comments about white privilege and rude Americans.<\/p>\n

David Fleischer, a political scientist at the University of Brasilia, said the incident touched a nerve in Brazil because of the country\u2019s history of urban violence and cases of people impersonating police and committing crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story did have some sense of validity but it didn\u2019t bear out and it made them look bad worldwide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s medaled often in the Olympic pool, Lochte\u2019s accomplishments have long been overshadowed by teammate Michael Phelps \u2014 the most decorated Olympian in history. Lochte won a gold in Rio in a relay race alongside Phelps. He is a 12-time Olympic medalist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 Brazilian police said Thursday that swimmer Ryan Lochte and U.S. teammates were not robbed after a night of partying, and that the intoxicated athletes instead vandalized a gas station bathroom and were questioned by armed guards before they paid for the damage and left. The robbery that was or wasn\u2019t has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-30044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30044"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=30044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}