GunGate: Lochte Home; Bentz & Conger Pulled Off Plane, Feigen Talks To Police

Report filed Aug 17 – updated Aug 18 with latest

A judge in Brazil has issued an order to prevent United States swimmers Ryan Lochte, James Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger from leaving the country on the grounds they gave conflicting accounts of their robbery in downtown Rio last Sunday.

Lochte returned to the United States ahead of the ruling, according to police quoted in local reports today. Early reports were unclear as to whether Feigen had also left the country, but over night it is suggested he, too, remains in Brazil.

The three remaining swimmers will all now face police questioning and have to supply testimony of their version of events. Swimming ended last Saturday in the pool here in Rio. Lochte had told police that said he, Feigen and the other two teammates had been travelling to the Athletes’ Village in a taxi in the early hours of Sunday morning after partying through the night when they were their car was pulled over by armed men showing police badges.

The gunmen were said to have ordered all out of the taxi and on to the ground. Wallets and other belongings were taken.

Jimmy Feigen

On Wednesday, under instruction from Judge Keyla Blanc, of the “Special Tribunal for Fans and Major Events”, authorities requested a search and arrest warrant for the swimmers with the aim of finding Feigen’s cellphone in order to identify exactly where the swimmers were on Sunday night, according to a report in the newspaper O Globo.

A formal request for passports to be seized was made. False reporting of a crime carries a three-year jail term in Brazil.

The reason why the claims are being investigated for authenticity include the lack of reporting of the incident to American team officials and evidence the police are reported to have to show that the swimmers passed through security heading back into the village with the belongings they said had been …

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