Police Arrest 1 in Simpson Robbery Case

By RYAN NAKASHIMA

LAS VEGAS – A man was arrested in connection with an alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia involving O.J. Simpson, and police said Sunday the former football star still may be arrested as well.

Simpson is expected to be questioned again Sunday morning and may face arrest, police Lt. Clint Nichols said. Simpson has said the items belonged to him, and police questioned him earlier in their investigation.

The man detained Saturday night was arrested on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglarly with a deadly weapon, Nichols said. Two firearms were seized.

He was not identified. Nichols said police were seeking other suspects.

"There may be as many as five outstanding (suspects)," he said, confirming that Simpson was among those five.

Police executed two search warrants early Sunday morning on private residences, Nichols said. The weapons and other evidence were seized at the first location.

"It was evidence of a crime that was committed," Nichols said. "And I believe we recovered some clothing that the individual was wearing in the commission of the robbery."

The man is accused of being among a group of people that went to the room of memorabilia dealers at the Palace Station casino-hotel on Thursday and seized items. Simpson has said the items belonged to him, and police have questioned him once in their investigation.

Simpson told The Associated Press on Saturday that he did he did not even consider calling the police to help reclaim personal items he believed were stolen from him, because he has found the police unresponsive when he needed help ever since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were killed in 1994.

"The police, since my trouble, have not worked out for me," he said, noting that whenever he has called the police "It just becomes a story about O.J."

"I’m at the point where I don’t rely on the police and this is not a police issue anyway," he said, expressing hope that it will soon be resolved.

Simpson, 60, said he was just trying to retrieve memorabilia, particularly photos of his wife and children. There were no guns and no break-in, he said.

As police try to determine what happened in the hotel room, they must unravel the contorted relationships between the erstwhile athlete and a cadre of collectors that has profited from his infamy since the slayings of his ex-wife and Goldman. He was acquitted of murder in 1995, but was found liable for their deaths in a civil case.