RIO DE JANEIRO — Police in Rio de Janeiro arrived at the Olympic Village on Wednesday morning to take the passports of U.S. swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen, and gather further testimony from them about a reported robbery, a U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman said.
“The swim team moved out of the village after their competition ended, so we were not able to make the athletes available,” Patrick Sandusky, USOC chief external affairs officer, said in a statement.
“Additionally, as part of our standard security protocol, we do not make athlete travel plans public and therefore cannot confirm the athletes’ current location. We will continue to cooperate with Brazilian authorities.”
A Brazilian judge issued a search and seizure warrant for the swimmers. Lochte has already left Brazil and returned to the United States, his attorney, Jeff Ostrow, said.
The four swimmers reportedly were robbed in Rio de Janeiro early Sunday.
According to a statement by the Rio Justice tribunal, Judge Keyla Blanc De Cnop, of the Special Court of the Fan and Major Events, ordered the warrants and seizure of passports.
“There was no effort to detain anyone, but police did have further questions this a.m.,” Sandusky said. “It is a matter for our consulate and U.S. Citizen Services, and we will continue to cooperate with all involved.”
Lochte, Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday in a taxi bound for the Olympic Village by individuals posing as armed police officers, the U.S. Olympic Committee said Sunday.
The robbery — during which one of the bandits was said to have put a gun to Lochte’s forehead — reportedly occurred after the athletes left a hospitality house hosted by France.
Video emerges
The committee’s statement came in response to questions resulting from recent speculation about what happened around the reported robbery.
That speculation was heightened by the release of a video obtained by the Daily Mail, which it said was filmed shortly after the incident.
The video appears to show the four swimmers returning to the Olympic Village looking relatively relaxed. The men are also in possession of high-value items that might be expected to have been taken in an armed robbery.
An International Olympic Committee spokesman initially said reports of the robbery were “absolutely not true” at a news conference Sunday.
He later backtracked and apologized, saying he was relying on initial information from the U.S. Olympic Committee that was incorrect.
Lochte’s attorney: We stand by account
Ostrow said his client, a gold medal winner in the pool in Rio, would not turn himself in if police in Brazil issued a warrant for him.
He said Lochte had given statements on the reported robbery to the Rio tourist police, the FBI, the State Department and the USOC security team.
“We stand by what he provided in that interview and signed off on,” Ostrow said.