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Kidnap Charges Added in O.J. Simpson Case

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 September 2007, 09:02 CDT

By Oren Dorell

O.J. Simpson was scheduled to be arraigned today on several felonies stemming from an alleged armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel as a judge in California ordered the ex-NFL star to give up a Rolex watch to help pay off a civil judgment.

Lawyer David Cook said Simpson was ordered Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg to turn over a Rolex he was shown wearing on a video clip posted to the website TMZ.com to Fred Goldman, whose son Ron was slashed to death along with Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994, said Goldman's lawyer, David Cook.

Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders but found liable for the deaths in a civil trial and ordered to pay $33.5 million to the families. Cook estimates the watch to be worth about $5,000.

"We pray it's not a fake," Cook said. "We pray it says made in Switzerland, not in Bangkok."

Simpson, 60, is accused of barging into a hotel room with armed companions to retrieve sports memorabilia related to his football career that he alleged had been stolen from him. Las Vegas police have said some and perhaps all of the items in the collectors' possession did not belong to Simpson.

Clark County prosecutors on Tuesday added new charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping with a deadly weapon to robbery, conspiracy and burglary charges against Simpson and three other men. He was to be arraigned today and is also scheduled to have a hearing on whether he can be released on bail.

Meanwhile, one of the alleged robbery victims, Bruce Fromong, had "a major heart attack" on Monday and is in critical condition in the intensive care unit of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to hospital spokeswoman Simi Cinder.

Cook says he wants all of the memorabilia that belonged to Simpson and was part of the incident Thursday at the Palace Station casino hotel. He says Simpson has not paid the bulk of the civil judgment.

Rosenberg gave Cook a week to produce a list of items that police say were taken from the hotel and to prove they are Simpson's.

Cook has said Simpson is wealthy, citing a 2003 tax form indicating income of $400,000 from pensions for his NFL, TV and movie work and a stock account worth more than $2 million, the Associated Press reported.

Cook said he was hired by Goldman to keep track of Simpson's income, including his appearances at trade shows where he may make money on memorabilia. Recently Cook obtained the income rights to a book Simpson co-authored, released under the title If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.

"We struck gold on the book," Cook said. "It's selling well." (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

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