AUSTIN, Texas -- The son of former cyclist Lance Armstrong was charged with sexual assault from 2018 when he was 18, according to a police arrest warrant.
The woman, now 19, told police in November 2020 that she was assaulted by Luke Armstrong after he drove her from a party to his father's house. He has been charged with felony sexual assault of child because the woman was 16 at the time.
Luke Armstrong's attorney said Armstrong, now 21, and the woman were in a consensual relationship and there was no assault. Armstrong was arrested Tuesday and released on a personal bond, according to court records.
"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," Leavitt said. "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 people, 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 was a reserve fullback for Rice from 2018 to 2019. He opted out of the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic and had not returned for spring practice, a team spokesman said Thursday.
According to the arrest affidavit issued April 1, the woman told police she met Luke Armstrong on June 20, 2018, and that she was intoxicated at a party two days later when she called him to pick her up. 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 made a recorded call to Armstrong on Dec. 8, 2020, during which Armstrong admitted to having sex with her at his father's house a few years earlier, the affidavit said.
The woman told police she informed six people that Armstrong had sex with her. Four of them remembered her describing the sex as nonconsensual, the affidavit said. One told police she interpreted what happened as consensual.
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.