O.J. Simpson a suspect in Vegas armed robbery

LAS VEGAS - O.J. Simpson says he only went into a casino hotel room to retrieve memorabilia that he felt was stolen from him. But police are investigating it as an armed robbery and named the fallen football star as a suspect yesterday in yet another surprising chapter to his legal saga.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Simpson (inset) insisted there were no guns involved, and he only went to the room at the Palace Station casino to retrieve 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," Simpson said.

Las Vegas Metro Police Captain 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."

Simpson, who was questioned by police immediately after the incident late Thursday, was cooperating, Dillon said. The captain said a formal interview was being arranged. No charges had been filed, and no one was in custody.

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.

"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.' "

Simpson 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. Dillon said some were recovered. He didn't specify which collectibles were located.

Police spokesman Jose Montoya said when officers talked to Simpson, he "made the comment that he believed the memorabilia was his. We're getting conflicting stories from the two sides."

One of the collectors in the room was Alfred Beardsley, a real estate agent and longtime collector of Simpson memorabilia, some of which he has been ordered to turn over as part of the Goldman's lawsuit. "I'm OK. I'm shaken up," Beardsley told the AP by phone, but wouldn't comment further.

Simpson, 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.

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