Lance Armstrong’s Son Accused Of Raping Intoxicated Teen Girl In 2018

Lance Armstrong’s has been accused of raping an intoxicated teen three years ago.

Luke Armstrong, 21, was arrested Tuesday and has been charged with sexual assault of a child, KVUE reports. The victim told police that when she was 16, Armstrong, who was 18 at the time, picked her up from a party in June 2018 while she was drunk and later raped her.

Armstrong was released on his own recognizance on Tuesday, KVUE reports. Randy Leavitt, an attorney for Armstrong, denied the claims against his client, who he says was in a consensual relationship with the victim at the time of the alleged sexual assault.

“It wasn’t a one-time thing,” Leavitt told KXAN. “They had something of a relationship going on for a brief period of time.”

Police launched their investigation after the victim, now 19, reported the alleged assault to police in November 2020, according to KVUE. The victim said she called Armstrong for a ride after she got intoxicated at a party. She said that she didn't remember the ride back to the house he took her to – which local outlets suggested was likely his father’s – but woke up on a couch before falling back to sleep. She later woke up again to find that Armstrong was on top of her and kissing her, she said, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by KVUE. She was unable to fight him off because of his size, and he raped her, she said; she passed out during the assault. He gave her a ride home after, she said.

Police interviewed people close to the victim, whose recollections of that time period matched the allegations and who recalled seeing a change in the victim’s behavior around then, according to KVUE. Many of those interviewed told police that the victim told them that she’d been sexually assaulted, save for one person, who claimed that what happened was consensual, according to KXAN.

The victim, with the support of police, called Armstrong in December 2020, and during that conversation he admitted to having sex with her, KVUE reports. He claimed to have been drinking at the time, but said that he remembered driving her to his father’s house. He also claimed that she asked if they were going to have sex and that she walked to the bed on her own, the affidavit states.

Armstrong, who is currently a student at Rice University, has the full support of his family and they are currently gathering evidence to build his defense, his lawyer said, according to KXAN.

In a statement obtained by KVUE, Leavitt said that he expects that Armstrong will be proven innocent.

“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,” his full statement reads. “What occurred three years ago in high school was not a crime and was not a sexual assault. It was a consensual relationship then and continued consensually between two young adults, with both ultimately going their separate ways. These charges should never have been filed, certainly not three years later. However, thankfully, the Texas court system works and will establish Luke’s innocence.”

Luke Armstrong is one of three children that Lance Armstrong, now a father of five, shares with his ex-wife. Lance Armstrong, once an accomplished and respected cyclist, had his titles stripped away from him after a 2012 investigation concluded that he’d secretly been using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.

The senior Armstrong has not commented publicly on the charges against his son.