Brazilian police have reportedly exposed Ryan Lochte’s gunpoint robbery story as a massive lie.
The American swimmer, along with Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, and one other member of team USA, claimed their taxi was pulled over at the weekend by armed assailants posing as police, reports The Independent.
Lochte argued that the men were robbed as they attempted to return to the Olympic village at 4am on Sunday, but a police source has now argued the story was a cover up for the fact the Olympians broke the door to a bathroom at a petrol station, with suggestions a brawl took place.
Lochte was already under heavy scrutiny as his story appeared to change each time he told it.
An official told the Associated Press that the swimmers stopped at the gas station to use the toilet, but when several members of the party broke the bathroom door they were confronted by a security guard.
The guard was armed but did not draw his weapon at any point, contrary to Lochte’s original claim that a weapon was held to his head.
The manager then reportedly arrived on the scene and via the translation skills of another customer requested they pay for the damages. The men handed over an unknown amount before continuing their journey home.
Prosecutors have also reviewed CCTV footage of the swimmers re-entering the Olympic village which appears to show them laughing and smiling, behaviour you wouldn’t attribute to someone robbed at gunpoint by people they were led to believe were law enforcement.
Furthermore, X-ray scan documents allegedly confirmed the men returned with their wallets.
Lochte has already returned to the U.S. with his father telling the AP his 32-year-old son would be purchasing a new wallet to replace the one that was ‘taken’.
Conger and Bentz, meanwhile, were removed from their plane home from Brazil by police yesterday, and told they must remain in the country while further investigations take place.
The two men then apparently told officers the original story was a fabrication.
The investigation continues…
