OJ Simpson protests his innocence as police probe armed robbery claim

Published on Sunday 16 September 2007 01:23

US POLICE were stepping up the investigation into an alleged armed robbery at a Las Vegas casino involving OJ Simpson yesterday as the fallen sports star protested his innocence.

Simpson said he does not understand why he is the focus of police inquiries as he went to the casino hotel room to recover items of memorabilia stolen from him. He insisted despite reports, no guns were involved.

"There was no armed robbery here," Simpson said. "It wasn't a robbery. They said, 'Take your stuff and go'."

Meanwhile, Alfred Beardsley, one of the men in the hotel room and a long-time collector of Simpson memorabilia, gave a contradictory account, claiming there were weapons involved.

The incident at the Palace Station casino has again brought the spotlight on Simpson, who was acquitted of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman more than a decade ago. He was later found civilly liable for their deaths and ordered to pay US$33.5m (16.7m).

On Thursday night, officers responded to a call from the hotel made by Beardsley who, according to Police Captain James Dillon, told police Simpson was involved in the robbery.

"We have [reports] from the victim there were weapons involved," Dillon said, but added that no firearms had been recovered, no charges had been filed and no one was in custody.

Police contacted Simpson, who would not give authorities the names of the "three or four" men who accompanied him into the hotel room until his lawyer was present, Dillon said.

Authorities were trying to sort out who owned the items in dispute and had some "legitimate information that part or all of the items" belong to Simpson, Dillon said.

Simpson said he and Beardsley had a friendly phone conversation on Friday and they wanted to resolve the matter. Both indicated the underlying issue was recovery of photos from Simpson's childhood.

"Nobody was roughed up," Simpson said in an interview with a news agency. "What I can't understand is these guys are in a room trying to fence stolen goods and I'm the story."

Simpson won the Heisman Trophy for American football in college and was a star running back in the NFL. Many of his sports collectibles, including his Heisman, were seized under court order and auctioned to pay some of the US$33.5 million awarded to the Goldman family and the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson.

Now a Miami resident, Simpson lives off a sizeable pension that could not be seized under the civil judgment.

Simpson said he was conducting a sting operation on Thursday to collect his belongings. "We walked into the room," Simpson said. "I'm the last one to go in and when they see me, it's all 'Oh God'."

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. OJ 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."