Lochte robbery investigation has no firm time frame, bar association says

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian official with the Rio Bar Association said it's difficult to predict how long an investigation into the alleged robbery involving Ryan Lochte and three other U.S. swimmers could take.

"It is very difficult to give a precise time frame for this investigation to be concluded and its eventual charges to be initiated in the Brazilian justice system," said Renato Teixeira de Sousa, Vice-President of Rio Bar Association Public Security Commission in an email in response to questions from Paste BN Sports.

Once police have collected all of the information they can from the athletes, they will issue a final report to the public ministry, which could decide to close the case, press charges against the athletes or against the supposed thieves,  Teixeira de Sousa said.

When news reports raised questions about the alleged robbery of the U.S. swimmers, the Bar Association asked the Public Ministry, a prosecutorial body, to "seek the truth in the matter," Teixeira de Sousa said.

"The facts told by the swimmer seem inconsistent and, taking into consideration that the image of all of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro could be affected —the swimmer said that he was robbed by police officers, who are agents of the state — [the Bar Association] decided to send a request to the Public Ministry to investigate the possible crime of filing a possible crime of calumnious denunciation, which is also so that there are no doubts about what happened that night."

Teixeira de Sousa added that it's difficult to say how frequent false police reports are filed.  "We could conjecture that one of the athletes wished to hide the time they left the party, given the rigorous regime athletes are supposed to be in during the Games. Maybe they didn't want to involve Brazilian authorities but only needed to utilize this to justify the time, but after the matter came out in the press, the situation got out of control."

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