Ryan Lochte Was Ordered To Stay In Brazil By Police After Being Unable To Give Robbery Details (UPDATED)

Amid all the hullabaloo of the athletic achievements from the Rio Olympics, the most salacious story of the games has been Ryan Lochte’s alleged gunpoint robbery on early Sunday morning. There was confusion around the incident, as the IOC initially denied it happened, only to be corrected by multiple other authorities, including Lochte’s own mother. Now, it appears confusion over the incident runs deeper, fueled by Lochte and his fellow athletes’ unreliability as witnesses.

As Lochte told Today, he and his teammates were out late partying at the French team’s living facilities, and were robbed by people dressed as police officers who pulled over their cab. They initially didn’t report the incident because they were “afraid of getting in trouble,” presumably either for being out so late and drinking or for drawing attention to the crime problems Rio faces.

Aside from failing to report the incident initially, Lochte’s group has also failed to be helpful to authorities, which could be causing police to doubt their story, according to the AP.

Police interviewed Lochte and one other swimmer, who said they had been intoxicated and could not remember what type and color of taxi they rode in or where the robbery happened, the police official said. The swimmers also could not say what time the events occurred.

Security video from Lochte’s re-entry into the Olympic village that morning shows that, as he said, he still had his cellphone. He and his teammate also still had watches on, which either casts doubt on the robbery story (a watch is, after all, one of the easiest and simplest things to rob) or the competence of the robbers:

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Although the AP says Lochte and his teammates are still being treated as victims, the holes in their story have prompted a decision that certainly casts doubts on their credibility:

Lochte had reportedly already left the country, which means that he may have to return. The fact that he’s being regarded with this sort of suspicion is certainly eyebrow-raising, and means we haven’t heard the last of this story.

UPDATE: The USOC released this statement, saying that police attempted to collect the swimmers’ passports to keep them in Brazil while the investigation plays out. But Lochte and his teammates are no longer in the Olympic Village.

UPDATE 2: Lochte is back in the United States, so Brazilian authorities decided to do the next best thing: question his teammates about the incident from several days ago. According to a report out of Brazil, two of Lochte’s teammates who were reportedly mugged alongside him were pulled off of their flights by local law enforcement.

Additionally, the fourth member of the group, Jimmy Feigen, is reportedly still in Brazil.

Lochte spoke with Matt Lauer earlier today, and Lauer is scheduled to discuss the conversation at 10 p.m. EST on Wednesday night. There is no word as to what exactly Lochte said, but NBC says that Lauer’s report will provide “more information.”

(Via AP)