LAS VEGAS: Five new charges, including two for kidnapping
with a deadly weapon, were added today to the six already lodged
against O.J. Simpson in connection with what the Las Vegas police
say was an armed robbery of sports memorabilia from a casino's
hotel room last week.
Mr. Simpson, being held without bail in jail here since Sunday
awaiting his first court hearing on Wednesday, now faces a total
of 11 charges including 10 felonies and one gross misdemeanor.
Three others men are also named as defendants facing similar
charges and are accused of accompanying Mr. Simpson as he and
a group of men bust into a room at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino
near the Strip on Thursday.
If convicted on all counts, each man faces up to decades in
prison.
Police released photos today of two unidentified men also
suspected of being with Mr. Simpson in the hotel room.
"I can't tell you how many unsolved robberies we have, but
because of who is involved, people are coming to us constantly
with information and locating these individuals is a lot easier,"
said Lt. Clint Nichols, who is overseeing the investigation.
"Good for us, bad for these guys."
The criminal complaint, signed by Deputy District Attorney
Christopher Laurent of Clark County, asserts that Mr. Simpson
and his group tricked two sports memorabilia dealers into a
meeting in their hotel room by claiming they were interested
in buying the items. Once there, the complaint says, the group
brandished guns, threatened violence, took numerous items and
refused to allow anybody in the room to leave.
The 11 counts include two counts each of first degree kidnapping
with a deadly weapon, robbery with a deadly weapon and assault
with a deadly weapon as well as one count of conspiracy to commit
a crime, conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary while in possession
of a deadly weapon and coercion with a deadly weapon.
Most of the items taken were related to Mr. Simpson's football
career, but Lt. Clint Nichols said today that photos obtained
by the police of the items spread out on the hotel room bed
showed they included some of the ties that Mr. Simpson wore
during his 1995 murder trial that ended with his acquittal on
charges of killing his ex-wife and her friend.
In Vegas, the case is being dubbed "Cirque du O.J." and has
certainly taken on a circus-like atmosphere. The Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, for instance, is running a "Free OJ" promotion on
Wednesday in which it will give away orange juice to patrons
who come to buy tickets to coming events.
"We're all out to get our piece of the publicity, especially
in this town," the speedway's general manager, Chris Powell,
said.
