Uruguayan security guard is arrested on suspicion of sexual harassment at Copa America

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A security guard for the Uruguayan soccer team, age 45, was arrested early Monday morning on suspicion of sexually harassing a woman hired by the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) as a security guard.

The case is said to have taken place at the headquarters of the Uruguayan delegation in Cuiabá. Uruguay’s national team will face Chile in Copa America on Monday at the Pantanal Arena.

The Civil Police reported that the security guard, an Uruguayan citizen, was charged with sexual harassment and sexual assault.

The man denies the charges and was taken to the police department for the defense of women. The Uruguayan Football Federation states that the employee was dismissed from its delegation “because he was denounced for alleged reprehensible and unacceptable behavior”.

The crime supposedly occurred between Sunday evening and early Monday morning, with immediate registration by the hotel employee. The victim told police officers that she was on the 2nd floor of the hotel when the suspect greeted her.

The employee claims she was harassed by the security guard. He allegedly asked her what time she would leave work as well as the amount of her salary. The guard asked her for a kiss and placed dollar bills on the bench she was sitting on and in the lab coat, she was wearing.

According to the deputy’s note, hotel security had to intervene when they noticed through the camera system that the man was holding the victim by the arm.

CONMEBOL said it will “continue to closely follow and comply with the decisions” of the authorities, that it rejects and condemns “in the strongest terms” any kind of sexual harassment, and that it will “continue to work for soccer free of discrimination, violence, and harassment.

The Uruguayan Football Federation promised to launch an administrative investigation after the delegation returned to Montevideo.