Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong’s son, 21, ARRESTED ‘for sexually assaulting drunk girl, 16, after a party in 2018’
THE son of disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a drunk teenager after a party.
College footballer Luke Armstrong, 21, was held on Tuesday almost three years after the alleged attack at the home of his Tour de France drugs cheat father.
Luke is facing a charge of sexual assault of a child, according to arrest papers filed by the Austin Police Department.
He is accused of attacking the girl following a party in the capital in June 2018 when she was 16 and he was 18.
The alleged victim reported the assault in November last year, according to an affidavit seen by .
She told investigators she asked Luke to pick her up from the bash because she had been drinking.
He took her back to his dad's $7.5million mansion in the Old Enfield district of , the unnamed victim claims.
She said she did not remember the drive in his truck, and woke to find him sexually assaulting her on a couch, the affidavit states.
The Armstrong family's 8,158 sq ft colonial estate was sold in the same month as the alleged assault, real estate records show.
It was one of at least three homes Armstrong has sold in the area after his drugs cheat downfall.
The girl claimed Luke admitted that he'd had sex with her at his father's home in a phone call in December 2020, a month after she went to police.
However, the alleged victim is said to have told a friend the sex on that June 2018 night was consensual, according to the affidavit.
The girl said that she told a total of six people about the alleged interaction, with four of them telling police in interviews that she "described the sex as non-consensual," the document said.
Two of those four people said that the girl was crying and having nightmares "about the assault years afterwards," according to the affidavit.
ATTORNEY'S DENIALS
An attorney for Luke Armstrong said his client has been in a months-long romance with the girl, and he expects him to be fully exonerated.
"What occurred three years ago in high school was not a crime and was not a sexual assault," Randy Leavitt told KXAN.
"It was a consensual relationship then and continued consensually between two young people with both ultimately going their separate ways.
"These charges should not have been filed and certainly not three years later."
The attorney added: "It wasn't a one-time thing.
"They had something of a relationship going on for a brief period of time.
"A complete review of the facts will confirm what has been alleged absolutely did not occur.
"And a proper and thorough legal process will exonerate Luke."
Lance Armstrong, 49, became one of America's greatest sporting heroes after surviving cancer to reach the top of world cycling.
He led the US Postal Service team to win a record seven consecutive Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005.
His dominance prompted lingering suspicions of doping, which he vigorously denied and fought with aggressive legal action.
But in 2012 he was stripped of all his titles and career achievements after whistleblowers exposed his cheating.
Armstrong eventually confessed to orchestrating an elaborate performance-enhancing con, which included persuading teammates to take drugs and have blood transfusions.
Most read in News
Luke, the eldest of Lance's five children, is a college athlete who played football for Rice University.
He opted out of the 2020 season due to , the university said. It confirmed he is still enrolled as a student.
Luke appeared in ESPN's 30 For 30 documentary charting his father's rise and downfall.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Asked if he would consider doping himself, he said: “I’ve always felt like grinding for something, and really working for a specific goal has always been so much more worth it than taking the shortcut.
“I also feel like if I ever did that and got caught, for random people, they would be like, 'He’s just like his dad’.”
