Lance Armstrong's son Luke arrested on sexual assault charges

Luke Armstrong, the son of ex-pro cyclist Lance Armstrong, has been arrested in Texas for sexual assault of a child, according to an Austin police department arrest affidavit.

The affidavit, obtained by Texan television station KXAN (opens in new tab), says that the then-18-year-old sexually assaulted a 16-year-old after a party in Austin in March of 2018. The girl reported the incident in November 2020, telling police that she had asked Armstrong to pick her up from the party, where she had been drinking.

The victim told police that she couldn't remember the journey with Armstrong in his truck and could only remember waking up on a couch in Armstrong's father's house and being sexually assaulted. The affidavit says that Armstrong admitted to having sex with the girl at his father's house on Windsor Road in Austin during a December 2020 phone call.

According to the affidavit, Austin police department interviewed several people connected to the girl, with most of the people contacted saying that she had indicated that she had been sexually assaulted. One person told police that the sex was consensual.

Armstrong's attorney, Randy Leavitt, denied the allegation on behalf of his client, saying that Armstrong and the girl were already in a consensual relationship for several months beforehand. He said that he and Armstrong's family are gathering evidence with which to prove his innocence.

"What occurred three years ago in high school was not a crime and was not a sexual assault," Leavitt said, according to 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.

"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."

In Texas, a person under 17 is not considered mature enough to consent to sex. However, it also has a 'Romeo and Juliet' law on its books that allows for consensual sex between a teen 14 or older and another no more than three years older.

However, Texas also has a law that people 16 or under cannot legally give consent to sex if they are unconscious, asleep or have been 'administered mind-altering substances', which can be applied to a person who is too drunk to be aware of what is happening.

Leavitt added that Armstrong has been granted and released on a personal recognisance bond – meaning he did not need to post bail – on Tuesday.

Lance Armstrong, who won the 1993 Road World Championships and the 1996 La Flèche Wallonne during a career spanning 19 years, has not commented publicly on the case.