OJ Simpson is questioned over break-in at casino

Published on Saturday 15 September 2007 00:24

OJ SIMPSON was yesterday being questioned by police in connection with a break-in at a casino hotel room involving sports memorabilia.

The break-in was reported at the Palace Station casino late on Thursday night, police spokesman Jose Montoya said.

"When they talked to him, Simpson made the comment that he believed the memorabilia was his," Mr Montoya added.

"We're getting conflicting stories from the two sides."

Simpson was released after he and several associates were questioned, but he is considered a suspect in the case, Mr Montoya said.

Simpson is believed to be in Las Vegas.

The former American football 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.

He has had to auction off his sports memorabilia, including the Heisman trophy he won for playing football, to pay some of the 16.5 million judgment awarded to the Goldmans.

On Thursday, the Goldman family published a book about the killings that Simpson had written under the title, If I Did It. After a deal for Simpson to publish it fell through, the family bought the rights and retitled the book If I Did It: The Confessions of a Killer.

Fred Goldman and his daughter, Kim, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss their decision to publish the book.

The chatshow host said she would not buy or read the book and asked the Goldmans if they did not feel its proceeds were "blood money".

"It's sending him a message," Kim Goldman said.

"[Simpson] put in hours putting together this confession about how he killed Ron and Nicole, and he worked hard thinking he was going to make millions off of it. And we snatched it right out from under him," she said.