O.J. Simpson arrested in armed robbery probe

[Teddy Roosevelt]

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN)  -- Las Vegas police arrested O.J. Simpson on Sunday amid an investigation into an alleged armed robbery at a hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, a source close to the investigation said.

O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday amid an investigation into an alleged robbery at a Las Vegas hotel.

The charges he faces are unclear.

Simpson was arrested at his room in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, the source said.

On Saturday, Las Vegas police arrested Walter Alexander and seized two guns in connection with the alleged armed robbery, the source said.

"I don't know why they arrested him," Simpson said Sunday. "I've stayed in contact with the police and the truth will come out."

Simpson had already been questioned during the investigation into several items of sports memorabilia that were taken from collectors at a room in the Palace Station Hotel and Casino. Simpson has said the items belonged to him.

Alexander was arrested Saturday night and charged with two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, one count of conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of burglary with a deadly weapon, the source said.

The Arizona resident was arrested on his way to McCarran International Airport, the source said.

During searches Saturday, police recovered two guns they believe were used in the alleged robbery, the source said.

Simpson, 60, acknowledged that he entered the man's room with a group of friends, one of whom was posing as a potential buyer, after being tipped off that some of his personal items were for sale there.

Among the items were things he hadn't seen in years or that had been stolen, he said. They included photographs of his family and himself as a child, and photographs and negatives taken by his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Simpson said friends helped him carry the items from the room, but no guns were involved and the incident was not a robbery.

On Saturday, Simpson said that he and one of the alleged victims, Alfred Beardsley, spoke by telephone and agreed the incident had been blown out of proportion.

Beardsley confirmed the conversation to celebrity Web site TMZ.com, saying Simpson apologized to him and told him he regretted the incident.

The other alleged victim, Bruce Fromong, a sports memorabilia collector, said that two of the men accompanying Simpson pointed guns at the other occupants of the room in what he described as "a home invasion-type robbery." Watch Fromong talk about what happened Video

Fromong testified for Simpson's defense in the 1997 wrongful death trial stemming from a civil lawsuit filed by the family of Ron Goldman, who was killed in 1994 alongside Simpson's ex-wife.

Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995, but the jury in a 1997 civil trial found him liable and awarded the Goldmans $33.5 million for their son's wrongful death.

Fromong testified that prices for Simpson memorabilia had dropped substantially since the 1995 verdict. His testimony was part of the defense's contention that Simpson could not afford to pay the Goldmans.

Also on Friday, Thomas Riccio, a former business associate of Simpson, told KVVU television in Las Vegas that he told Simpson about the sale.

Riccio said someone told him last month that he wanted to auction some of Simpson's possessions by placing them on consignment. Riccio added that when he called Simpson to tell him about the planned sale, the former athlete told him the items had been stolen.

Riccio said that as he was being shown the items in the hotel room, Simpson entered the room and seized the items. He said there was no break-in and no gun was used.

Simpson's ex-wife and Goldman -- a waiter who had gone to her Los Angeles, California, home to return a pair of glasses -- were fatally stabbed outside her townhouse June 12, 1994. A jury found Simpson not guilty of the crimes.

Simpson recently wrote a book originally titled "If I Did It" and planned to publish it himself, but a public outcry led to the cancellation of his book deal.

A bankruptcy judge subsequently awarded the Goldmans the rights to the book in light of their inability to collect the wrongful death award. They retitled the book "If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer," which is in bookstores.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/16/oj.simpson/

[Don Jacob]

fucking oj

[MontrealCity's Most]

I wonder how this one went down

Friend:" yo O.J man this is crazy we cant go jack these dudes man we gon get sent to jail man i cant go to jail i gota girl friend a wife on the side and shit i ca...

Oj:" Yo man quit youre bitching im O.J Simpson i beat a damn murder rap"

friend:' yeah but"

Oj" but none man we gon go in there and jac em for what they got"

lol

[Sikotic™]

Crazy ass negro. I think GTA: San Andreas was based on his life.

[Dodgers#1]

Crazy ass negro. I think GTA: San Andreas was based on his life.

lol i agree

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Simpson friend: It seemed like a setup
 
By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, Associated Press Writer
September 18, 2007
 
If the Goldman family has its way, it may soon own the sports memorabilia O.J. Simpson is accused of committing armed robbery to recover for himself. One man charged along with the former football star said Tuesday that the Las Vegas hotel room dispute seemed like a setup.

Walter Alexander, 46, said Simpson may have been tricked because the memorabilia dealer who tipped him off also recorded everything on tape.

"It sounds like a setup to me," Alexander told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. He said Simpson had thought the memorabilia belonged to him after getting a call from the dealer.

"He did believe that he was going to retrieve his own property," Alexander said.

One of the memorabilia dealers who spoke publicly about the incident on Monday and described Simpson and a group of men coming into the hotel room "commando style" was hospitalized later that day with chest pains, a staff member at Century City Doctors Hospital said Tuesday.

Bruce Fromong was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the staff member said, declining to give her name. A Cedars-Sinai spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a call seeking information about Fromong's condition.

Simpson was being held without bail Tuesday in Clark County Detention Center on six felonies, including two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon.

Witnesses and authorities have said that they don't believe Simpson had a gun but that some of the men with him did. If convicted, Simpson could receive up to 30 years in state prison on each robbery count.

The Heisman Trophy winner has been in and out of the spotlight since he was acquitted of murder in the 1994 deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

The Goldman family, which won a civil verdict against Simpson, has waged a decade-long campaign to track down and claim his assets to fulfill the civil verdict. It planned to file a request in Superior Court on Tuesday to obtain ownership of the sports memorabilia seized.

David Cook, an attorney for Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, said he believed Nevada authorities would turn over the items with a court order after Simpson's criminal case finishes. The items include Simpson's Hall of Fame certificate, a gold Rolex watch and the suit Simpson wore on the day he was acquitted, Cook said.

"Assuming that this case is resolved one way or another, at the end of the case, the stuff will never go back to Mr. Simpson," Cook vowed. "He's going to walk out of Clark County empty-handed."

Another man suspected in the alleged heist surrendered Monday. Clarence Stewart, 53, of Las Vegas, lived at one of the residences that police searched early Sunday to recover some of the memorabilia.

Stewart turned over some of the missing goods, including footballs bearing autographs, police said. He was being held on six felony charges, including robbery with a deadly weapon and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

A fourth man, Tom Scotto, was questioned and cleared of suspicion after police concluded he was not in the room, reducing the number of outstanding suspects to two, police said. Both were apparently seeking attorneys and preparing to surrender, police said.

Alexander, who faces charges almost identical to Simpson's, said he went to Las Vegas for a wedding and not to see Simpson. "I just happened to get caught up in a bad situation," he told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Simpson's arraignment was set for Wednesday. Yale Galanter, Simpson's lawyer, said he was preparing a bond motion and will ask for Simpson's release on his own recognizance.

"If it was anyone other than O.J. Simpson, he would have been released by now," he said.

"You can't rob something that is yours," Galanter said. "O.J. said, 'You've got stolen property. Either you return it or I call the police.'"

The Goldmans hope the property never finds its way back to Simpson.

In 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica returned $33.5 million in judgments against Simpson in a wrongful-death lawsuit by the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

The jury awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages to Ron Goldman's estate and a total of $25 million in punitive damages, divided equally between both estates. Despite extensive court hearings, however, most of the judgment has remained unpaid.

In 1999, seized personal property was auctioned off, raising only $430,000, more than half of it from the sale of his Heisman Trophy. The house itself did not generate anything toward paying the judgment. A bank foreclosed on the home, put it up for auction and bought it back.

Tuesday's hearing was originally scheduled in connection with any money the Goldmans say Simpson earned from a video game featuring his likeness.
 
 

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

O.J. Simpson Released From Jail On $125K Bail

(AP) LAS VEGAS O.J. Simpson was released from jail Wednesday, after a judge granted bail and set strict conditions for his release while he fights criminal charges in connection with the alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors at a Las Vegas hotel.

Simpson, wearing a light blue sport coat and dark blue pants, carried a black bag as he got into a gray Dodge sedan with his lawyer and drove away from the Clark County Detention Center.

He said nothing to reporters and at least one bystander who cheered.

Simpson's lawyer had said he expected the former football star would return to his home in Florida.

Simpson, who spent three nights in the Las Vegas jail, was freed about two hours after telling Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr. he understood the charges, including first-degree kidnapping which carries the possibility of life in prison with parole.

Simpson was arraigned Wednesday morning.

Standing in court in a blue jail uniform and handcuffs, furrowed his brow as the judge read the list of charges against him.

He answered quietly in a hoarse voice and nodded as Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr. laid out restrictions for his release, including surrendering his passport to his attorney and having no contact with co-defendants or potential witnesses.

Simpson did not enter a plea.

Unlike his arraignment over a decade ago in the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman, when Simpson declared he was "absolutely 100 percent not guilty," he was subdued throughout the proceeding Wednesday.

"Mr. Simpson do you understand the charges against you?" the judge asked.

"Yes, sir," Simpson responded.

Security at the courthouse was tight for the arraignment hearing. People entering the courtroom were screened by security officers and Las Vegas police with bomb-sniffing dogs.

The case has attracted a swarm of media, including Marcia Clark, who unsuccessfully prosecuted Simpson for the 1994 murders.

Simpson, 60, was arrested Sunday after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into his hotel room at the Palace Station casino and took several items that Simpson claimed belonged to him. He has been held since then in protective custody in a 7-foot-by-14-foot cell.

The Heisman Trophy winner was charged with kidnapping, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, coercion with use of a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

"These are very serious charges," attorney Yale Galanter said. "He is taking it very seriously."

Authorities allege that the men went to the room on the pretext of brokering a deal with two longtime collectors, Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. According to police reports, the collectors were ordered at gunpoint to hand over several items valued at as much as $100,000.

Beardsley told police that one of the men with Simpson brandished a pistol, frisked him and impersonated a police officer, and that another man pointed a gun at Fromong.

"I'm a cop and you're lucky this ain't L.A. or you'd be dead," the man said, according to the report.

"One of the thugs -- that's the best thing I can call them -- somebody blurted out 'police!' and they came in military style," Beardsley said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show. "I thought it might have been law enforcement or the FBI or something because I was ordered to stand up, and I was frisked for weapons."

"At no time did Mr. Simpson hold any type of firearm at all," he said.

Beardsley also cast doubt on the authenticity of a recording of the confrontation made by Tom Riccio, the man who arranged the meeting between Simpson and the two collectors. Riccio reportedly sold that tape to celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com.

"I do not believe that these tapes are accurate," Beardsley said. He said information was missing and the recordings should be professionally analyzed.

"Simpson confronted me, saying 'Man what's wrong with you, you have a turn-over order, you have a turn-over order for this stuff, man,"' Beardsley said, but he said that part wasn't on the tapes.

The Los Angeles Times reported that court records show Riccio has an extensive criminal history, including grand larceny in Florida, possession of stolen goods in Connecticut and receiving stolen property in California. According to the newspaper, Riccio acknowledged his past in a telephone interview late Tuesday.

Riccio said he was not concerned with how his past might affect his credibility "because everything is on tape. That's why it's on tape."

He also said he had been promised some form of immunity by prosecutors.

The memorabilia taken from the hotel room included football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider and framed awards and plaques, together valued at as much as $100,000.

Although Simpson was acquitted of murder charges in the deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman, a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit and ordered him to pay a $33.5
million judgment. On Tuesday, a California judge gave a lawyer for Goldman's father a week to deliver a list of items Simpson was accused of taking from the hotel room, raising the possibility that they could be sold to pay off the judgment.

"He's ordered to pay us millions of dollars," Goldman's sister, Kim Goldman, said Wednesday on NBC. "If he went to Vegas to go collect on those things so we wouldn't, there's some irony in
that."

She also said she felt some satisfaction with Simpson's arrest.

"I'm not going to lie to you, I do feel a little bit of elation to see him in handcuffs," she said. "I hope that in some way the pressure that we put on him for the last 13 years drove him to this."

Two other defendants, Walter Alexander, 46, and Clarence Stewart, 53, were arrested and released pending court appearances.

Stewart turned in some of the missing goods and Alexander agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, authorities said. A fourth suspect, Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, surrendered to police Tuesday.

Police were seeking two other suspects, whom they had not identified.

[Lunatic]

LOL O.J. is such a G

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

...and a moron.

[Lunatic]

...and a moron.

clearly

[daWappla]

I really hope for him that this isn´t true at all or that he was set up because NOONE can be THAT dumb.

If I got acquitted of murder then I would be the most humble, happy person EVER and probably help 3rd world countries build a fucking dam or whatever. I would never even think about doing anything that´s against the law.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/PNE-HBfkJOI" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/PNE-HBfkJOI</a>