O.J. Simpson held, faces 'a lot of time' in Las Vegas stickup
Monday, September 17th 2007
Simpson was busted for his alleged role as leader of gun-toting posse that snatched a treasure trove of sports collectibles. No, O.J., it's not over. Not by a long shot.
A day after O.J. Simpson told the Daily News that the uproar over his alleged memorabilia stickup is "over," a Las Vegas prosecutor vowed to do what Los Angeles lawmen couldn't do 12 years ago: put him behind bars.
Simpson was in the can after a judge ordered him held without bail last night on multiple armed robbery counts for a wacky stickup of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Vegas hotel room.
"He is facing a lot of time," Clark County District Attorney David Roger said.
Simpson wore a blue golf shirt and offered just a glimmer of his famed smile as he was led out of a police station in handcuffs late yesterday.
Among the charges were robbery with use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary with a deadly weapon and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and coercion. Each count carries a three- to 35-year sentence if he is convicted, Roger said.
Two guns used in the alleged robbery were also recovered, he said.
"They might actually nail him this time," said Marcia Clark, the Los Angeles prosecutor who bungled the Simpson murder case in 1995, when a jury let the Heisman Trophy winner walk in the slaying of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her pal Ron Goldman.
In this new drama, Vegas cops say The Juice led a group of pals - including a buddy who was in Sin City to renew his marriage vows - who burst into a hotel room Thursday night. Guns drawn, two of the men confronted two sports memorabilia dealers who were trying to sell some Simpson-related items as Simpson barked orders, Lt. Clint Nichols said.
"It was kind of scary," said Tom Riccio, another memorabilia dealer who tipped off Simpson about the sale and said he was there when the alleged theft went down.
