US swimmers lied about being robbed, said head of Rio's civil police

Rio de Janeiro Civil Police confirmed this Thursday (Aug. 18) that four American swimmers lied about being robbed at a gunpoint at a gas station on Americas Avenue, in Barra da Tijuca, on Sunday (14).

The first story of the robbery case was told by swimmer Ryan Lochte to a US newspaper. According to the report, he and his fellows, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, and James Feigen left a party at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, in the south zone. After that, they would have been robbed by armed individuals posing as police officers. Today (18) Conger, Bentz and Feigen gave a testimony, changed their story, and admitted Lochte's account was false. Lochte traveled back to the United States on Monday (15).

The swimmers who testified this Thursday should be released to travel back to the US, according to Fernando Veloso, the head of Rio's civil police. Yesterday (17) Bentz and Conger were removed by Brazilian authorities from their flight before it departed from Rio de Janeiro to New York.

Veloso said images and witnesses revealed that the swimmers arrived by taxi at a gas station in Barra da Tijuca and damaged a bathroom at the location. Gas station employees summoned police and have not let the swimmers leave.

There was no physical confrontation, but security personnel presented a gun when the swimmers attempted to leave. According to witnesses, Lochte behaved in a hot-tempered way and was really drunk. They settled the matter by paying R$100 and $20 for the damage.

Swimmers could be held responsible with falsely reporting a crime and vandalism.

"We have not concluded the necessary measures for solving the case, to know which was the crime, because we are still hearing witnesses. These are preliminary findings," explained Veloso.

The head of Rio's civil police responded to Lochte lawyer's calling this police operation a complete circus. "There is no one here with a clown nose, nor with clown shoes," he said, pointing out that athletes should apologize for what they have done to the people of Rio.

"It would be noble of them to apologize to the residents of Rio, who saw the image of their city tarnished by a fabricated story," he said.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta