Posted on 09/14/2007 8:26:52 AM PDT by La Enchiladita
Article Launched:09/14/2007 06:33:21 AM PDT
LAS VEGAS—O.J. Simpson was questioned about a casino hotel room break-in involving sports memorabilia, police said Friday. The break-in was reported at the Palace Station casino late Thursday night, police spokesman Jose Montoya said. He said the break-in involved sports collectibles, but he declined to elaborate.
Simpson was released, but 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 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.
Simpson 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.
Las Vegas police said "associates of Simpson" also were questioned in the case, along with the alleged victims.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
I’ve been out for the evening and trying to catch up so not sure what has happened - but Greta didn’t tell the history. Google is your friend!
I wonder why they didn’t report this. Seems quite important to me.
can you believe it - just what I thought - per Fox now the guy is admitting he exaggerated being roughed up and that there were no guns.
One can only hope that this episode will perhaps help the Goldmans in their struggle to obtain the money Simpson owes them. There IS a story here.
IF I BROKE IN
I don't know... the story still sounds kind of mixed up, like everyone keeps changing their story, all trying to hide something, make themselves look good. From the current FoxNews story:
Simpson said it was auction house owner Tom Riccio who tipped him off and arranged for him to meet with collectors trying to peddle his belongings. Beardsley, however, said Riccio found out that he was going to be involved in a private sale of the childhood photos "and got Simpson all worked up."
"I will give him those pictures back, I feel bad about it," said Beardsley, adding that he and Simpson "feel this has gotten way out of control."
Riccio, meanwhile, told the Los Angeles Times that Simpson was supposed to show up and tell the men to give the belongings back or he would call the police. Instead, 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 told the newspaper.
"They (Simpson and his companions) took the stuff, and they left. What can I say? Things went haywire," he said.
looking at the number of bids, not many... (good thing)
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8RM91EG0&show_article=1
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A sports memorabilia collector who accused O.J. Simpson of armed robbery said Saturday that he was “on O.J.’s side” and wants the case dropped.
“I want this thing to go away. I have health problems,” said Alfred Beardsley, the collector who told police on Thursday that Simpson and several other men stormed a Las Vegas hotel room and stole memorabilia at gunpoint.
Beardsley, of Burbank, Calif., told The Associated Press he is not interested in pursuing the case.
“I have no desire to fly back and forth to Las Vegas to testify,” he said. “How are they going to have a witness who’s on O.J.’s side?”
Beardsley said he called police only because the items were valuable and if he had not reported them as stolen he would be “held accountable for all the stuff.” Beardsley said Friday that Simpson had called him to apologize.
Lt. Clint Nichols said later Saturday that Beardsley had not formally withdrawn his complaint and that another collector in the room, Bruce Fromong, had not indicated that he wants to drop the complaint.
Earlier, Las Vegas police said they were questioning one of the three or four men who were thought to have accompanied Simpson to the hotel room. No arrests had been made and police were still trying to determine what took place before Simpson left the room with memorabilia he says was stolen from him, Nichols said. Police think a weapon was involved and want to review hotel surveillance tapes.
Simpson told The Associated Press on Saturday that he did he did not even consider calling the police to help reclaim personal items he believed were stolen from him, because he has found the police unresponsive when he needed help 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.”
“I’m at the point where I don’t rely on the police and this is not a police issue anyway,” he said, expressing hope that it will soon be resolved.
Simpson, 60, said he was just trying to retrieve memorabilia, particularly photos of his wife and children. There were no guns and no break-in, he said.
I see Beardsley being a little scared now, talking about “health problems.” The other collector wants to pursue the case. And I’m not clear who has the “stuff” now; does O.J. have it back? Or is it in police custody?
The surveillance tapes might help to clear some of this up...
oh darlin this just keeps gettin better. Googled a bit on the other one, Bruce Fromong, and found this from 1/26/01
(it’s a .pdf, this is the html link - pg. 56)
Two dealers in sports memorabilia testified for the defense. Bruce Fromongis a full time employee of the California Department of Corrections but also isself-employed as a dealer in sports memorabilia and part owner of a sports cardshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. He directed sales and marketing for Locker 32, acompany that deals primarily in Simpson memorabilia.
During the criminal trial there was a frenzy of demand for Simpson memorabilia, but a few months after thecriminal verdict this demand subsided. He testified that in the six months prior tothis trial (February 1997) he had sold only 10 pieces wholesale and four piecesretail. At a recent trade show he could not find a single dealer interested inpurchasing Simpson memorabilia.
well LOL and then there is this...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19981367/
Celebrity scandal sells well on eBay’s dark side
-snip-
“Because it has an air about it,” said Bruce Fromong, seller of the O.J. suit, which comes with jacket, pants, shirt and tie. The shirt collar has a blood stain where Simpson nicked himself shaving that morning, Oct. 3, 1995. The jacket has a makeup smudge left by Simpson’s sister during a post-verdict hug. Fromong said he has been trying to sell the suit for its owner, Simpson’s former agent Mike Gilbert, who got the ensemble as a gift from the ex-NFL star
-snip-
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