| Home » U.S. News » Crime & Punishment |
O.J. Simpson named suspect in armed robbery
Fallen football star says he was trying to retrieve stolen property
 | MSNBC video |
 |
O.J. says he was conducting a 'sting' Sept. 15: NBC's Michael Okwu reports that O.J. Simpson is giving new details into the alleged Las Vegas casino burglary that O.J. says was really a 'sting' operation. MSNBC |
Stand and be counted |
What keeps you up at night? Gut Check America is your chance to tell us what really matters in our country and to help determine what topics MSNBC.com covers. Click here to learn more and get involved. |
Related Stories |
LAS VEGAS - O.J. Simpson, who famously vowed to find his ex-wife’s real killer, took matters into his owns hands to solve the caper of his purportedly stolen memorabilia.
But police say Simpson may have crossed the line and they’re looking into whether he committed armed robbery when he and some acquaintances went to a casino hotel room and snatched the collectibles.
While police were mum on details Friday, Simpson and other men who claimed to be in the hotel room aired conflicting accounts about what happened in a city that’s supposed to keep its secrets.
“We didn’t break into any room. There was no armed robbery,” Simpson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Las Vegas Metro Police Capt. James Dillon said the confrontation was reported as an armed robbery involving guns. But he said no weapons had been recovered and stressed that the investigation was in its infancy.
The incident at the Palace Station casino once again hurled Simpson into the headlines more than a decade after he was acquitted of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, only to be found civilly liable for their deaths and ordered to pay a $33.5 million judgment.
'It's stolen stuff that's mine'
Simpson insisted there were no guns involved and that he went to the room only to get stolen mementos that included his Hall of Fame certificate and a picture of the running back with J. Edgar Hoover.
“It’s stolen stuff that’s mine. Nobody was roughed up,” he said.
Simpson said auction house owner Tom Riccio called him several weeks ago to say some collectors “have a lot of your stuff and they don’t want anyone to know they are selling it.”
Simpson, who was in Las Vegas for a friend’s wedding, said he arranged to meet Riccio at the hotel. Riccio had set up a meeting with collectors under the guise that he had a private collector interested in buying Simpson’s items.
Click for related content |
“We walked into the room,” Simpson said in the telephone interview. “I’m the last one to go in and when they see me, it’s all ‘Oh God.”’
He said he was accompanied by several men he met at a wedding cocktail party, and they took the collectibles.
Simpson said he wasn’t sure where the items were taken.
A message left by the AP for Riccio was not immediately returned.
He told the Los Angeles Times he arranged the meeting after receiving a phone call about a month ago from a person who claimed to have personal items — including footballs, awards and photos — that had belonged to Simpson and wanted to sell them.
“Simpson was supposed to show up, identify the items and tell the men to either give the stuff back or he would call the police,” Riccio told the newspaper.
The plan unraveled after Simpson showed up with about seven “intimidating looking guys,” at least one of whom had a gun, he said.
“We tried to peacefully reacquire these personal items, not for their monetary value, but for their family value. O.J. wanted to be able to pass these things down to his kids,” Riccio said.
“They (Simpson and his companions) took the stuff, and they left. What can I say? Things went haywire,” he said.
| Rate this story | Low | High |
MORE FROM CRIME & PUNISHMENT |
 Crime & Punishment Section Front |
| Add Crime & Punishment headlines to your news reader: |