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.