Chelsea footballer Lucas Piazon charged with sexual assault

Lucas Piazon was in Canada for a Pan Am tournament with Brazil

Lucas Piazon the Chelsea footballer on loan at Reading is wanted by police in Canada over an alleged sexual assault on a 21-year-old woman. Investigators in Toronto, Ontario, have issued an arrest warrant for the forward and his Brazil under-22 teammate Andrey Ventura after the incident during at the Pan Am Games in July.

The Toronto 2015 Pan Am Game brought 6,000 athletes from 41 countries to the city. The alleged attack happened on the very same day that Lucas helped Brazil secure a bronze medal in the Pan Am tournament, scoring in their 3-1 win over Panama.

A statement issued by the Toronto Police read as follows:

"The Toronto Police Service is alerting the public to a sexual assault investigation. It is alleged that: on Saturday, July 25, 2015, a 21-year-old woman, along with a friend, met two men in a nightclub in Toronto. The two men accompanied the women to one woman's residence.

“Once inside the residence, the two men sexually assaulted one of the women. The two men have now been identified, and arrest warrants have been issued for Lucas Domingues Piazon, 21, and Andrey Da Silva Ventura, 22. They are both wanted for: 1. Sexual Assault.’

"Both men are from Brazil. They were in Canada as participants in the 2015 Pan-Am Games as members of the Brazilian Pan-American football (soccer) team", the statement concluded.

The two men returned to Brazil on July 27 two days after the alleged incident and officials feel that it would be better for everyone involved if the two come out and cooperate.

Ventura is a goalkeeper for the Botafogo-SP club in Brazil and Piazon has netted two goals in eight games for Reading this season. Piazon is wanted on an Ontario-wide warrant, so cannot be extradited, but will be arrested if he enters the province whereas Ventura faces a Canada-wide warrant and police said they will begin a process to bring him back to Toronto to face charges.

Canada has no extradition treaty with Brazil, and the Crown Attorney’s Office made the decision regarding the different warrants without divulging into the reasons for the same. Without making further comment, a Chelsea spokesman said: "We are aware of the reports."

Reading ware also made aware of the reports after Toronto Police issued the media release on Thursday but referred enquiries to his parent club.