Simpson Named Suspect in Casino Break-In

[gator8_24]

Simpson Named Suspect in Casino Break-In
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS — Investigators questioned O.J. Simpson and named him a suspect Friday in a break-in at a casino hotel room involving sports memorabilia.

The break-in was reported at the Palace Station casino late Thursday night, police spokesman Jose Montoya said. He said investigators determined the break-in involved sports collectibles.


"When they talked to him, Simpson made the comment that he believed the memorabilia was his," Montoya said. "We're getting conflicting stories from the two sides."

Simpson was released after he and several associates were questioned, but he is considered a suspect in the case, Montoya said. He is believed to be in Las Vegas.

"We don't believe he's going anywhere," he said.

The Heisman Trophy winner, ex-NFL star and actor lives near Miami and has been a tabloid staple since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994. Simpson was acquitted of murder charges, but a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Simpson has had to auction off his sports collectibles, including his Heisman Trophy, to pay some of the $33.5 million judgment awarded to the Goldman family.

On Thursday, the Goldman family published a book about the killings that Simpson had written under the title, "If I Did It." After a deal for Simpson to publish it fell through, the family bought the rights and retitled the book "If I Did It: The Confessions of a Killer."

Investigators in the casino case planned to give their report to prosecutors Friday, Montoya said. The district attorney's office will decide whether to pursue charges.

Simpson had been scheduled to give a deposition Friday in Miami in a bankruptcy case involving his eldest daughter. But it was rescheduled because Simpson had told attorneys that he would be out of town.

Patricia Jones, a woman at the Florida office of Simpson attorney Yale L. Galanter who identified herself as Galanter's associate, said Galanter was out of town and had been forwarded messages seeking comment.

The Palace Station, an aging property just west of the Las Vegas Strip, is one of several Station Casinos-owned resorts that cater to locals. The 1,000-room hotel-casino, with a 21-story tower and adjacent buildings, opened in 1976.

A company spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Simpson_Questioned.html?cxntnid=bn_2007-09-14_11_25_id275_e

[IndianLover]

Just another thing he will get away with.   ::)

[BadgeBabe]

Considering that his wealth has probably disappeared ( or he would have bought said trophy from the casino), I think he just might be taken down for a stay in the pokey this time.
It's not the double murder conviction he deserves, granted, but IF he ever serves even one week of prison time, someone with a sharpened bed spring WILL get him.

[gator8_24]

O.J. Simpson arrested in Las Vegas robbery involving sports memorabilia

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, Associated Press Writer
September 16, 2007

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday and faces multiple felony charges in an alleged armed robbery of collectors involving the former football great's sports memorabilia, authorities said.

Simpson was arrested shortly after 11 a.m., Capt. James Dillon said.

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Prosecutors were planning to charge Simpson with two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and coercion, said Clark County District Attorney David Roger.

A conviction on the most serious charge, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, could bring a sentence of three to 35 years for each count, he said.

"He is facing a lot of time," Roger said.

Simpson was being held at Las Vegas police offices pending the arrival of his lawyer, who was expected later Sunday, Dillon said.

"He was very cooperative, there were no issues," Dillon said.

At least one other person has been arrested and police said Sunday that as many as six people could be arrested in connection with the alleged armed robbery that occurred in a room inside the Palace Station casino-hotel on Thursday.

Simpson, 60, has said he and other people with him were retrieving items that belonged to him. Simpson has said there were no guns involved and that he went to the room at the casino only to get stolen mementos that included his Hall of Fame certificate and a picture of the running back with J. Edgar Hoover.

Simpson told The Associated Press on Saturday that he did not call the police to help reclaim the items because he has found the police unresponsive to him ever since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were killed in 1994.

"The police, since my trouble, have not worked out for me," he said, noting that whenever he has called the police "It just becomes a story about O.J."

The Heisman Trophy winner, ex-NFL star and actor lives near Miami and has been a tabloid staple since his ex-wife and Goldman were killed in 1994. Simpson was acquitted of murder charges, but a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Police said two firearms and other evidence were seized at a private residence early Sunday.

Walter Alexander, 46, of Arizona, was arrested Saturday night on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a deadly weapon.

He was released without bail on Saturday night, Dillon said.

Besides the two firearms, police said they seized other evidence during early morning searches of two residences, Lt. Clint Nichols said.

"It was evidence of a crime that was committed," Nichols said. "And I believe we recovered some clothing that the individual was wearing in the commission of the robbery."

Simpson said auction house owner Tom Riccio called him several weeks ago to say some collectors were selling some of his items. Riccio set up a meeting with collectors under the guise that he had a private collector interested in buying Simpson's items.

Simpson said he was accompanied by several men he met at a wedding cocktail party, and they took the collectibles.

Alfred Beardsley, one of the sports memorabilia collectors involved in the alleged robbery, has said he wants the case dropped and that he's "on O.J.'s side."

Associated Press Writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.



Updated on Sunday, Sep 16, 2007 5:09 pm, EDT

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-simpsonquestioned&prov=ap&type=lgns   

[lovebug44]

O.J. Simpson ordered held without bail

[CrystalDawn]

now he can get "corn holed" he's a waste of air................hang him by his nuts........lol

[swamp]

 :))

[IndianLover]

now he can get "corn holed" he's a waste of air................hang him by his nuts........lol

:)) that's what he deserves

[Darling SilverDodger]

If I Robbed Him
An exclusive excerpt from O.J.'s next book.
By Timothy Noah
Posted Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, at 7:31 PM ET

O.J. Simpson's Las Vegas police booking photo
Determined not to be upstaged by the Goldman family's publication of If I Did It, O.J. Simpson's "hypothetical" memoir of wife-beating and double homicide, Simpson announced today that HarperCollins, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., will publish a sequel, If I Robbed Him: That Son-Of-A-Bitch Is Lucky To Be Alive After He Stole My Damn Souvenirs. On the day of publication, Simpson will be interviewed about the book on Fox News by L. Gordon Crovitz, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, prefatory to the book's serialization in the Far Eastern Economic Review. In a unique compensation arrangement, News Corp. has contracted with the German/Russian firm Eurockot to launch into outer space 5 million Swiss francs plus two pairs of John Lobb elephant-skin golf shoes in size 12 (if the shoe doesn't fit, someone's lip will get split). The rocket will carry O.J.'s book advance to the Andromeda galaxy, where it will be stored in a black hole that is believed to lie outside the jurisdiction of the $33.5 million civil judgment against Simpson in 1997.

Slate has been leaked an advance copy of the manuscript. An excerpt appears below.

A lot of people think they know what went down in that Las Vegas hotel room. Well, they don't know. I've seen the evidence. I've listened to the audiotape. I've posed for the mug shot. I've negotiated the deal for the HBO docudrama. And of course, I've heard all the theories.

That I did it.

That I did it but I don't know I did it.

That killing Nicole and that Goldman dude back in 1994, who were really asking for it, not that I'm saying I did it, but if I did do it then it wasn't that big a deal, she had it coming, that no-good blood-sucking c—

Ahem. That, anyway, thirteen years after killing Nicole and whatshisname, Goldman, I'm consumed with guilt and feel a compulsion to confess, blah blah blah, and that my suppression of what I know to be the hideous truth about my terrible deeds has started to undermine my grip on reality. If you believe that, my friend, then you'll believe that NASA space missions are on the up-and-up, and not faked at a remote Army base in the desert!

Let me tell you what really happened Sept. 13 at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino. Picture this.*

An auctioneer in California named Thomas Riccio contacted me to say that some guys in Vegas were secretly trying to sell souvenirs from my football days. I asked Riccio to set up a meeting in Vegas. On Thursday I met Riccio in the hotel lobby with my pals Clarence Stewart, Michael McClinton, Tom Scotto, and Walter Alexander, who has a really, really big mouth. (Way to stand up for a buddy, Walter! I'll take care of you later.)

There was also a sixth guy, whom the Las Vegas police won't identify. I'll call him Zeppo. Zeppo tried to talk me out of confronting the sellers. "Don't do it, O.J.!" he said. "It's unlawful to rob somebody at gunpoint!" As events progressed, Zeppo keened and wailed like a Greek chorus. "Look, O.J.! They have bingo! Why don't we play a little bingo instead?"

Some people think Zeppo is a figment of my imagination or a lame literary device to voice conscience-stricken sentiments that I've repressed. But Zeppo was there, and to be honest I was sorely tempted to plug the guy just to shut him up.

Anyway, we took the elevator up, entered this hotel room, and lo and behold there were Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. Beardsley collects O.J. Simpson memorabilia, and I've tangled with him in the past over whether I agreed or didn't agree to sign some autographs in East L.A. Fromong, another collector, was kind enough to testify on my behalf at the civil trial. They're a pair of lowlifes, but with my liquidity problems you can't be too choosy about who your friends are. Anyway, with them in the hotel room was a pile of memorabilia that my former sports agent, Mike Gilbert, stole from my mother's storage locker. Mike claims something lame, like he took them because I didn't pay him. Which actually may be true. But let's not get bogged down in minutiae here.

Riccio, the auctioneer, brought a concealed tape recorder, because he thought we'd get the guys to admit they were fencing stolen goods and then we could call the cops on them. He was kind of shocked when instead my buddies pulled guns out and pointed them at Beardsley and Fromong.

Way I see it, the tape is a good news/bad news thing. It's good news because I don't have to go all fuzzy in this book like I did in If I Did It about what happened when my explosive rage crossed the line into criminality.

Uh, if it crossed into criminality. Which it didn't.

The tape is also bad news, however, because Riccio gave it to the cops, and now I guess it will be entered into evidence. Where it can be used to show that we robbed Beardsley and Fromong at gunpoint. Which of course we did.**

Here's how we did it:

"Don't let nobody out this room," I shouted as my buddies pulled out their heaters. "Motherf__kers! Think you can steal my s__t and sell it?"

Beardsley (or was it Fromong?) said, "No" and looked scared.

"Don't let nobody out of here," I said. "Motherf__ker, you think you can steal my s__t?"

Then somebody said, "F__k you. Mind your own business."

Then one of my homeys said, "Look at this s__t." Then one of them told Fromong (or was it Beardsley?) "Get over there."

"You think you can steal my s__t?" I repeated, because I really felt this was the central point these two collectors needed to grasp.

"Backs to the wall," one of my peeps said. "Walk your ass over there."

"Think you can steal my s__t?" I asked once again.

"Mike took it," Beardsley (or perhaps Fromong) replied.

"I know f__king Mike took it," I said.

Then we told the two dealers to stand the f__k up. Then we took the stuff, which was mine, so I don't see what the big deal is. Unless Mike sold it to retire my debt to him. I don't really remember. Anyway, he should have asked first. And I can't believe he took my photo with J. Edgar Hoover!

Beardsley, who called the cops, now wants the charges dropped. He's even apologized. So I guess my plan to rob him scared him. If I had a plan to rob him. Which I didn't.

Now I just need Fromong to drop the charges, too. How hard can that be? If he doesn't drop them, he isn't very bright. Let me put it to you this way. Would you want to make O.J. Simpson mad?

* My fingers and toes were crossed when I dictated what follows to my ghostwriter. (Return.)

** Hypothetically, that is. I wish to hell the tape were hypothetical, too, but its seizure by the police has unfortunately compromised its preferred status as a thought experiment. (Return.)