AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas district attorney has rejected a felony sexual assault charge filed earlier this year by Austin police against the son of former cyclist Lance Armstrong.
Luke Armstrong was charged in April related to an incident in 2018. A woman told police in November 2020 that she was assaulted by Luke Armstrong after he drove her from a party to his father’s house in Austin. Because she was 16 at the time and he was 18, Luke Armstrong was charged with sexual assault of child. He had been free on a personal bond.
According to online Travis County court records, the case was recorded as “DA Rejection/No Charges Filed” on Aug. 24. Travis County District Attorney José Garza's office on Monday confirmed the charge was dismissed and declined further comment.
“Luke and his family are delighted with the outcome and look forward to clearing his name because of this baseless allegation,” Armstrong attorney Randy Leavitt said.
“We presented strong evidence to the district attorney’s office showing that the relationship between the two young people was completely consensual and consequently did not constitute a criminal offense,” Leavitt said. “Luke passed two independent polygraph exams with the best examiners in the state showing that he did not use any force or threats to gain consent.”
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times before he was stripped of those titles following revelations he used performance-enhancing drugs for much of his career.
According to the arrest affidavit issued April 1, the woman told police she met Luke Armstrong in June 2018, and that she was intoxicated at a party two days later when she called him to pick her up. She told police she didn’t remember the ride but woke up in his house where she told police he sexually assaulted her and then drove her home.
She later made a recorded call to Armstrong in December 2020, during which Armstrong admitted to having sex with her at his father’s house a few years earlier, the affidavit said.
The girl told police she informed six people that Armstrong had sex with her. Four of them remembered the girl describing the sex as nonconsensual, the affidavit said. One told police she interpreted what happened as consensual.
Leavitt previously said the relationship between Luke Armstrong and the girl continued after the incident in question.
Luke Armstrong was a reserve fullback on the Rice University football team in 2018-19. He opted out of the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic and did not return this season.
