TOP NEWS Brazil police investigate Bieber for spray painting Rio wall

- Police in Rio de
Janeiro on Wednesday said they were
investigating whether Canadian teen singer Justin
Bieber had illegally spray painted graffiti on an
exterior wall of a beachside hotel.
The 19-year-old singer, in Brazil as part of his
ongoing South American tour, was photographed
early Tuesday, along with members of his
entourage, painting the wall outside an upscale
hotel in Rio's São Conrado neighborhood.
After complaints by local paparazzi that Bieber's
bodyguards had accosted them, Rio police said
they would look into the incident and determine
whether Bieber had broken Brazilian laws against
the destruction of property.
In a statement, Brazil's civil police force said they
had already interviewed a Bieber representative
and would continue gathering details about the
incident.
Brazil's federal police, the force charged with
immigration matters, denied local media reports
that investigators had sought to prevent Bieber,
bound Wednesday for a show in Asuncion,
Paraguay, from leaving the country.
The incident follows a whirlwind of tabloid
headlines during Bieber's Brazilian stay, including
reports that he had attended a Rio nightclub that
in the past has been shuttered for prostitution.
Tabloids published photos they said were of the
singer, wrapped in a bedsheet to conceal his
identity, leaving the Centaurus club over the
weekend.
Melissa Victor, a publicist for Bieber at Universal
Music Group in New York, did not return a phone
call for comment. Bieber is signed to Island Def
Jam Music Group, one of the labels owned by
Universal, which itself is a unit of French media
and telecommunications company Vivendi SA.