Source Says Missing 3 Minutes of Video Footage of Ryan Lochte and Teammates 'Backs Up' Their Robbery Claim
Even after Ryan Lochte's teammates reportedly told Brazilian police that they fabricated their robbery story, the Team U.S.A. swimmer is still sticking by his story, a source says.
After video emerged on Thursday that showed Lochte and a group of three other Team U.S.A. swimmers at a gas station that they reportedly vandalized, a source close to the swimmer tells PEOPLE that the video actually confirms key elements from his story.
"The video backs up what they're saying," the source says. "There are three minutes in the middle of the video that are missing, that no one has picked up on. The video does not show them running out of the bathroom – if they had trashed it don't you think they'd be running? There is no footage that has been released that has them smashing up a bathroom."
In footage obtained by PEOPLE, the CCTV footage can be seen jumping approximately three minutes from the time a man approaches the swimmers' cab to when they exit the vehicle.
"The man dressed in policeman's uniform tells them to sit on the floor they hand over money and are held up with a gun," the source says.
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"From their perspective it reinforces what the swimmers have been saying," adds the source, who has spoken to all the swimmers involved in the past few hours.
A Brazilian official told PEOPLE that Lochte's teammates Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, who were pulled off a plane headed back to the U.S. late Wednesday for questioning, told police that the robbery had been fabricated.
An official who has direct knowledge of the investigation told PEOPLE that around 6 a.m. on Sunday, Lochte, along with Conger, Bentz and Jimmy Feigen, stopped at a gas station in Barra da Tijuca, a suburb of Rio.
One of the swimmers reportedly tried to open the door of a bathroom at the gas station and found that it was locked. The swimmer allegedly began kicking the door open. A security officer and the gas station manager reportedly approached the group and asked them to pay damages, according to the official.
The official told PEOPLE that an argument ensued, when the officer reportedly drew his gun on the swimmers and demanded that they pay for damages. The swimmers reportedly then handed over their wallets and left.
Earlier in the week, security footage from the Olympic Village showed the four men returning to their dorm and reportedly joking around with one another. The footage reportedly led to a Brazilian judge to request that all four men remain in Rio for questioning, but Lochte had already left the country. However, he told Today's Matt Lauer that he stood by his initial story, although he had changed a few details.
• With reporting by STEVE HELLING
