Rio DJ Explains ‘Rio Robbery,’ Says He Intervened After Gas Station Guard Pulled Gun On American Swimmers


New details are emerging in the “Rio Robbery” alleged by American swimmers, and the media examination of the evidence being used against U.S. Olympic swimmers Ryan Lochte, James Feigen, Gunnar Bentz, and Jack Conger may indicate that the four were actually detained at gunpoint by Brazilian security guards last week in a Rio gas station, according to a Brazilian DJ who witnessed it, after they were seen urinating behind the building.

And, as has been reported by Lochte and Bentz, money was demanded from them before they could leave the gas station, per the story over at USA Today Sports, as well as other details on the gas station guards’ behavior that night.

Disc Jockey Fernando Deluz is telling media about the so-called “Rio Robbery.” He decided to step in to the situation at the gas station the night security guards pulled a gun on the four American swimmers, according to what has been described in the USA Today Sports by reporters Taylor Barnes and David Meeks.

And, seeing there was a language barrier, Deluz volunteered to translate between Portuguese and English as soon as he saw the weapon he said.

“As soon as they drew their weapon, that’s when I got worried. It was also so fast, and what I wanted was to resolve the situation.”

Rio Olympics DJ Gas Station Translator
Fernando Deluz, a disc jockey, talks about the night swimmer Ryan Lochte, of the United States, and teammates appeared at a gas station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 19, 2016. [Phtoo by Peter Prengaman/AP Images]
The DJ Deluz believes that the guards thought the American swimmers were trying to “flee” after Lochte damaged an advertisement sign. They quote Deluz.

“What happened really – it’s not even the issue of knocking down and breaking the sign. It was the attitude of the guys of messing up the place and then wanting to leave without a satisfactory resolution.”

But from the “Rio Robbery” account given by swimmer Bentz, the swimmers were held at gunpoint until they paid money. Bentz is quoted in the story as well.

“I gave them what I had in my wallet, which was a $20 bill, and Jimmy gave them 100 reais, which is about $50 in total. They lowered the guns, and I used hand gestures to ask if it was OK to leave, and they said yes.”

Rio Robbery
American Olympic swimmers Gunnar Bentz, left, and Jack Conger leave a police station in the Leblon neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. [Photo by Leo Correa/AP Images]
Lochte has been quoted by the USA Today reporters from an NBC interview airing Saturday.

“It’s how you want to make it look like. Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion or us just paying for the damages. Like, we don’t know. All we know is there was a gun pointed in our direction and we were demanded to give money.”

The gas station security guards seemed to be completely exonerated by Civil Police Chief Veloso during an afternoon news conference attended by worldwide press, while the four American swimmers were characterized as behaving “in a violent way.” (See previous story at the Inquisitr.) They were intoxicated, according to the report from Barnes and Meeks, and while Lochte ripped off an advertisement sign from the wall none of the swimmers ever went near the bathroom and could not have broken a soap dispenser or vandalized that, according to the reporters.

In fact, much of the news on the “Rio Robbery” is still questionable. It also appears that not all Brazilians agree with Police Chief Veloso on those remarks made to the world media about the swimmers. For instance, “a Brazilian judge” is mentioned by Barnes and Meeks as stating that the security guards might well have been guilty of committing a robbery. Police were perhaps being hasty in exonerating them so quickly, they report in summing the judge’s thoughts on the matter.

[Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Images]

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