O.J. Simpson named in casino break-in

[milliondollarchamp 0]

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Investigators questioned O.J. Simpson and named him a suspect Friday in a confrontation at a casino hotel room involving sports memorabilia. The former football star said he went to the room to retrieve property he said was stolen from him but denied breaking in.

 

Simpson told The Associated Press 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 and conducted a "sting operation."

 

"Everybody knows this is stolen stuff," Simpson said. "Not only wasn't there a break-in, but Riccio came to the lobby and escorted us up to the room. In any event, it's stolen stuff that's mine. Nobody was roughed up."

 

A message left for Riccio was not immediately returned.

 

Investigators were reviewing a complaint of a break-in at the hotel late Thursday night, police spokesman Jose Montoya said.

 

"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 is considered a suspect in the case, Montoya said. He was released after he and several associates were questioned, and he remained in Las Vegas.

 

"We don't believe he's going anywhere," Montoya 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 in the civil trial.

 

On Thursday, the Goldman family published a book about the killings that Simpson had written under the title, "If I Did It," about how he would have committed the crime had he actually done it. After a deal for Simpson to publish it fell through, a federal bankruptcy judge awarded the book's rights to the Goldman family, who retitled it "If I Did It: The Confessions of a Killer."

 

Fred Goldman, Ron's Goldman's father, defended the family's decision to publish the book. He noted Simpson's penchant for breaking headlines.

 

"He brings attention to himself every time we turn around and he will continue to do that forever," Goldman said Friday on NBC's "Today Show."

 

The Las Vegas district attorney's office will decide whether to pursue charges in the casino case, but had not received police paperwork by Friday morning, an office assistant said.

 

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.

 

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.

 

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Tony Winton in Miami contributed to this report.

[Sideburnious 0]

I'm guessing this was posted in the wrong folder?

[Hoff 0]

To be fair, this does sound like a bad movie plot. Like, in order to resurrect his career, the Juice must break into Excalibur and steal his lucky cleats. Written by the Amazing Rando, coming to you this Christmas!

[CBright7831 0]

His book is also coming out:

 

 

Yeah, thats the real cover.

[Youth N Asia 0]

while I understand Ron gold's dad being pissed at O.J. I am tired of him and his stache all over tv

[Ripper 0]

I am sick of Ron Goldman. Either kill the fucking guy or stop showing up all over TV.

[treble 0]

Ha, The Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice.

[treble 0]

I am sick of Ron Goldman. Either kill the fucking guy or stop showing up all over TV.

OJ already took care of that.

[Ripper 0]

Okay, my fault. Fred Goldman. If you aren't gonna just shoot OJ in the fucking throat, then stop yer bitchin honestly.

 

Just shoot him in a mostly white town so the jury is mostly white. They wouldn't convict him if he had few people as alibi. Say he was hanging out with Nicole Browns family.

[Angle-plex 0]

That cover is hilarious. Special "He did it" commentary.

[bob_barron 0]

OJ should've killed Fred instead

[Vern Gagne 0]

*

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I don't know who moved this but it sure as hell isn't sports.

[Skywarp! 0]

Typical stuff. They finally nailed him for something other than what everyone wanted him in jail for...just like Al Capone finally landing behind bars for tax evasion. Well, whatever works.

 

I think it's funny that the "If" on his book cover is almost non-existent. He's definitely rubbing America's--and Goldman's father's--nose in the fact that he got away with it.

[Ripper 0]

he isn't going to jail for this. Not that the guy is untouchable or anything, but this isn't going to be nearly as big as the press is making it.

 

Unless they find a dead woman and her lover in the casino or something. Then business could pick up.

 

Oh, and thats not his book cover. Thats the book cover for the book that the Goldmans spent their money on to buy the rights to so they could put it out, you know, because no one knows that OJ was behind the deaths of those people.

 

Money well spent I guess.

[CBright7831 0]

Here's the original book cover when it was going to be released the first time:

 

[2GOLD 0]

Part of me wishes there was a real killer somewhere and the police caught the guy. Just for the great hilarity of O.J doing a touchdown celebration dance and watch as the entire country suddenly embraces him.

 

Ok, so I only want that so I can see another Naked Gun movie. Just one last hurray for Leslie to help me forget the last 3 scary movies.

[Ripper 0]

I think there is a real killer somewhere. But I am sure OJ wouldn't do too much dancing since the asshole probably paid him to do it. I would do a dance if they found out he paid someone to do it so they can put his Juicey ass in jail forever.

 

Something still strikes me as odd about OJ leaping over walls and knowing how to kill people with a perfectly placed stab wound in the kidney like a fucking ninja.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Hey, I just bought this new album, it's really cool. It's jangly rock, kinda sunny alternative, I guess, but get this, the lead singer is black! They're called "Hootie and the Blowfish." Weird name, huh? I don't know if anything on here will be able to knock "Another Night" off the charts, but I don't think we've heard the last of them, not by a long shot. They could be the next big thing, now that Cobain was murdered. If nothing else, it'll cheer me up a little bit now that I know the Bulls won't four-peat.

[Vampiro69 0]

Nordberg must be expecting Lt. Frank Drebin to get him out of this situation.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Why is everyone still trying to frame OJ? Give the guy a break.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Okay, my fault. Fred Goldman. If you aren't gonna just shoot OJ in the fucking throat, then stop yer bitchin honestly.

 

Just shoot him in a mostly white town so the jury is mostly white. They wouldn't convict him if he had few people as alibi. Say he was hanging out with Nicole Browns family.

Well, I don't know what else I expected from TSM, home of "Debra had it comin'."

[BUTT 0]

I think there is a real killer somewhere. But I am sure OJ wouldn't do too much dancing since the asshole probably paid him to do it. I would do a dance if they found out he paid someone to do it so they can put his Juicey ass in jail forever.

 

Something still strikes me as odd about OJ leaping over walls and knowing how to kill people with a perfectly placed stab wound in the kidney like a fucking ninja.

I don't know where this "OJ hired a killer" theory you're always talking about comes from. OJ's blood was all over the crime scene. The entire case against him was based on that evidence. If you're going to believe that he didn't do it himself, you might as well believe that he wasn't involved at all.

[Ripper 0]

It just doesn't make sense to me. Unless he has killed people before, because they were killed really really efficiently.

 

Plus the evidence in the case was fucked up. You had blood under Nicoles nails that was of this mysterious, never to be found person, you had a medical examiner testify that the only way that stain on the bloody sock could have occured was if he had a hole in his ankle and that it was more than likely placed there, the bloody glove had no trail leading up to or around the glove. The glove soaked in blood was just...there. 4 ccs of OJ's blood just disappeared before the other evidence was collected. In other words, there were so many fuck ups in the collection of the evidence and so many fishy looking things, I am not that crazy for having the theory that someone else did it.

 

I mean honestly, that whole Jason Simpson theory(and that is pretty fucking interesting) makes more sense to me than OJ himself with his hands actually doing it, but I personally truely believe that he hired someone to do it which is why he happened to have a flight out of town when the murders were supposed to occur, but of course, he was late getting into the limo.

 

All bullshit aside, there actually is a reason why the guy was found not guilty. That jury actually did a good job, and they followed the whole reasonable doubt thing to the T. But I am pretty sure they all knew he had something to do with it.

 

 

[cabbageboy 0]

Ripper, I agree with quite a bit of what you say there. I hadn't heard of the whole Jason Simpson theory before but it does sound like he should have been looked at as a suspect. But as far as the bizarre trail of evidence that was botched by the lab and by the cops, I like what a Georgetown law student said in a PBS special: "They framed a guilty man."

 

Based on the evidence at the trial, I don't blame the jury one bit for acquitting OJ. It was such a fascinating trial really. Has there ever been a bigger grouping of such unsympathetic people? Even the victims and their families didn't exactly inspire much sympathy, at least I didn't think so.

[Ripper 0]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, if they had found him guilty and he spent the rest of his life in jail, I wouldn't have blamed them one bit.

 

I only recently heard about the Jason Simpson theory and honestly, I does sound pretty damning. But I never felt that OJ himself did it but had a whole lot to do with it and still needed to be punished.