LAS VEGAS: A police incident report obtained late Tuesday
paints O.J. Simpson as the brutal ringleader of a group of men
with guns who busted into a Vegas hotel room on Thursday but
who, in subsequent days, told police he is baffled by the notion
that what took place was an armed robbery.
Mr. Simpson told police the following day that his group departed
with pillow cases full of nearly $100,000 in sports memorabilia,
not all of it related to his football career, but that he "didn't
take the time to go through it" before they left the room.
The report lists dozens of items that Mr. Simpson and his
group are said to have taken from two memorabilia dealers, including
three neckties that Lt. Clint Nichols said in a separate interview
were worn by Mr. Simpson during the 1995 murder trial that ended
in his acquittal on charges he killed his ex-wife and her friend.
Other items included several football keepsakes signed by
Mr. Simpson as well as lithographs of Joe Montana, the former
San Francisco 49ers quarterback, and baseballs signed by Pete
Rose and Duke Schneider.
The report, obtained by The New York Times on Tuesday, is
also the first indication that the incident at the Palace Station
Hotel-Casino may have turned violent. One of the men who entered
the room is said to have shoved the memorabilia dealer Bruce
L. Fromong over a chair; Mr. Fromong, 53, was hospitalized in
Los Angeles on Tuesday after suffering a massive heart attack.
Using evidence gleaned from witnesses' testimony as well as
extensive video surveillance provided by the property's security,
the police report details the events leading to and following
the alleged armed robbery.
Some details remain unclear, including the number of men Mr.
Simpson is said to have entered the room with. Early in the
report it is stated that there were five black men, but later
police note that there were six men, four black and two white.
Mr. Simpson, jailed without bail here since Sunday and charged
with 10 felonies and one gross misdemeanor, is due to appear
for his first court hearing in the case this morning. Three
co-defendants, Walter Alexander, Michael McClinton and Clarence
Stewart Jr., also face the same 11 charges. Police on Tuesday
night released photos of two other suspects they wish to apprehend,
but officers do not have their names.
The 11-page report asserts that Mr. Fromong and fellow memorabilia
dealer Alfred Beardsley were lured to a hotel room rented by
Thomas Riccio, another memorabilia dealer, who told them he
had a buyer interested in Simpson memorabilia.
According to the report, Mr. Riccio informed Mr. Simpson that
Mr. Beardsley and Mr. Fromong had items that belonged to Mr.
Simpson in the room. Mr. Simpson, dressed in a gray V-neck shirt
and jeans, entered the room with several men, including two
brandishing guns from the onset, and directed the men as to
what to take.
"I'm a cop and you're lucky this ain't L.A. or you'd be dead,"
said one of the men with a semi-automatic weapon as the group
entered, frisking Mr. Beardsley and Mr. Fromong for weapons.
The report says Mr. Simpson berated Mr. Beardsley and Mr.
Fromong for having taken his belongings. At one point, Mr. Fromong
asked Mr. Simpson if he could keep his cellphone; Mr. Simpson
initially agreed but later grabbed it from Mr. Fromong and told
the man he would have any items that he didn't believe were
his left for Mr. Fromong at the hotel's front desk.
As he did in media interviews following the incident, Mr.
Simpson told police when they questioned him Friday in his hotel
room at the Palms Casino-Resort - and again on Sunday during
his drive to jail for booking - that he was retrieving items
previously stolen from him. Mr. Simpson, according to the report,
initially said on Friday that he could not speak without his
attorney present but "Simpson was very chatty and amicable,"
the report stated of his demeanor during his ride from the Palms
to the Clark County Detention Center on Sunday.
The report also cast doubt on the account of Mr. Alexander's
attorney, Robert Rentzer, who has said in numerous interviews
that Mr. Alexander was en route to Los Angeles to meet with
him when he was arrested. Mr. Alexander held a one-way ticket
to Phoenix for mid-day Saturday when police stopped him for
questioning at McCarran International Airport.
Mr. Alexander then is said to have led officers to the homes
of Mr. Stewart and Mr. McClinton in northwest Las Vegas, the
report said. Police found weapons said to be involved in the
Palace Station incident as well clothes that matched some worn
by at least one of the suspects in a search of Mr. McClinton's
home. Mr. McClinton was arrested Tuesday.
