Ryan Lochte
Judge Keyla Blank said she based her ruling on inconsistencies in the testimony of the two swimmers, who said they and two teammates were robbed at gunpoint after a late night out.
Blank wrote in her filing that there were questions about a gap between when the swimmers said they left France House and arrived at the athletes' village. The swimmers said they departed France House at about 4 a.m., while a surveillance video showed they checked back in to the athletes village at 6:56 a.m., the judge wrote. Such a trip during early morning hours would take 30 to 40 minutes. She also indicated that images from the France Club indicate a different time of departure than the one the men allege.
She said they did not appear to be physically or psychologically shaken by the alleged crime. "They arrived with their psychological and physical integrity unshaken," she wrote, also noting that the swimmers appeared to be joking with each other and did not appear to be upset. She watched surveillance video of the swimmers arriving at the athletes village.
Comment: To be fair, people respond differently to traumatic experiences. It can be common for people to laugh and look happy after experiencing trauma, as a coping mechanism.
The judge wrote that she ordered the two swimmers' passports seized and that both men remain in Brazil because investigators need more time to determine whether they are guilty of filing a false police report.
Under Brazilian law, filing a false police report can lead to six months detention or a fine.
The U.S. Olympic Committee said police had further questions for the swimmers but that no athletes had been detained Wednesday morning.
"The swim team moved out of the village after their competition ended, so we were not able to make the athletes available," USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky 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."
Police went to the athletes' village to speak with the swimmers, who were not there. Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Feigen said they were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday morning.
Feigen is still in Rio, according to his hometown newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News, which spoke to him briefly Wednesday. Bentz, who swims for the University of Georgia, originally planned to return to the United States on Thursday, Georgia sports information director Claude Felton said. But he did not know whether Bentz had already returned home.
Lochte told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that he initially did not tell the USOC that he and three other swimmers were victims of a robbery early Sunday morning "because we were afraid we'd get in trouble."
The four swimmers told USOC officials that they had been taking a taxi home early Sunday from France House when "their taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who demanded the athletes' money and other personal belongings," according to a USOC statement.
Police investigating the case told the Associated Press they have not found evidence to support the swimmers' account of the incident. The four swimmers were unable to provide key details in police interviews, according to the AP.
Ostrow, Lochte's attorney, said Lochte cooperated fully with authorities and gave a statement to representatives from the State Department, FBI, Tourist Police and the USOC's security team at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday night.
"I know that Ryan didn't want this to turn into what it did," Ostrow said. "The Olympics are more important and Team USA's performances are more important."
Rio 2016 and the International Olympic Committee did not address the case when asked about it at a news conference Wednesday. "Just for clarification, we won't be asking USOC for any comment. You'll have to go to them directly," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
Contributing: Nicole Auerbach, Christine Brennan
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Translation of key excerpts in Brazilian judge's ruling on investigation of U.S. swimmers who say they were robbed at gunpoint:
"Contradictions in the testimonies given by the supposed victims have been identified, in which in one of the testimonies, the victim Ryan Steve Lochte affirms that the athletes, up until now denominated as victims, had been approached by only one armed person who demanded the turning over all of the money in his possession, or, $400 USD, while in another testimony, the supposed victim James Ernst Feigen, affirms that they were approached by some armed people, unable to give a precise number how many carried out the crime, affirming that only one of the persons had a firearm.
Another apparent contradiction is in the time of their exit from the event on the Lagoon and the arrival of the supposed victims at the Olympic Village. The athletes allege that they left the party they were participating in around 4:00 a.m. (which is not confirmed by the images at the location, which indicated a different time) and affirm that the crime happened when they were in the neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca, in the proximities of the Olympic Village, having after the fact gone onward to their lodgings. However, the registry of the entrance of the supposed victims is at 6:56 a.m., as noted on the security cameras at the location, which captured their arrival and what can be deduced from seeing the images on the Olympic Village security cameras is that the supposed victims arrived with their physical and psychological integrity unshaken, even making jokes with each other, denoting that there was not any psychological disturbance inherent to the supposed violence they allege.
The more than tranquil behaviour of the athletes after the supposed violence, added to the other contradictions presented in this investigation, in this examination of the evidence, makes me believe that the Public Ministry (a prosecutorial body) has grounds to go forward, considering that there is a need to carry out further crucial diligences to elucidate the possible practice of the crime False Communication of a Crime ... making it imperative the search and apprehension of the passports of Ryan Steve Lochte and James Ernst Feigen, at the moment residents at the Olympic Village, which is located at Av. Salvador Allende 3200, Recreio dos Bandeirantes, in this court's jurisdiction.
The MOST corrupt police force on the planet. The Brazillian Government is embarrassed. This attempt to gaslight these young men is pathetic.