Simpson says he wasn't robbing Vegas hotel room

LAS VEGAS -- O.J. Simpson says he went into a casino hotel room only to retrieve memorabilia that he felt was stolen from him. But police are investigating it as an armed robbery and named the fallen football star as a suspect in yet another surprising chapter to his legal saga.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Simpson insisted there were no guns involved and that he went to the room at the Palace Station casino only to get stolen mementos that included his Hall of Fame certificate and a picture of him with former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

"It's stolen stuff that's mine. Nobody was roughed up," Simpson told the AP.

Las Vegas Metro Police Capt. James Dillon said the confrontation was reported as an armed robbery involving guns. But he said no weapons had been recovered and stressed that the investigation was in its "infancy."

Simpson was questioned by police immediately after the incident Thursday night, and a formal interview was being arranged, Dillon said. No charges had been filed and no one was in custody.

Simpson said auction house owner Tom Riccio called him several weeks ago to say some collectors "have a lot of your stuff and they don't want anyone to know they are selling it."

Simpson, who was in Las Vegas for a friend's wedding, said he arranged to meet Riccio at the hotel. Riccio had set up a meeting with collectors under the guise that he had a private collector interested in buying Simpson's items.

"We walked into the room," Simpson said in the telephone interview. "I'm the last one to go in and when they see me, it's all, 'Oh God.'"

Simpson has been a tabloid staple since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994. Simpson was acquitted of murder charges, but a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Simpson has had to auction off his sports collectibles to pay some of the $33.5 million judgment awarded in the civil trial.

Simpson said he was accompanied Thursday night by several men he met at a wedding cocktail party, and they took the collectibles.

Simpson said he was not sure where the items were taken.

Dillon said some of the items had been recovered. He did not specify which collectibles were located.

A message left for Riccio was not immediately returned.

Police spokesman Jose Montoya said when officers talked to Simpson, he "made the comment that he believed the memorabilia was his. We're getting conflicting stories from the two sides."

One of the collectors in the room was Alfred Beardsley, a real estate agent and longtime collector of Simpson memorabilia, some of which he has been ordered to turn over as part of the Goldman family's lawsuit against Simpson.

"I'm OK. I'm shaken up," Beardsley told the AP by phone, but would not comment further, citing the police investigation.

Bruce Fromong, a collector who testified at Simpson's civil trial, told the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com he was in the room and said Simpson barged in.

Fromong, who reportedly tried to sell the suit Simpson wore when he was acquitted of murder, described him as a former close friend and said he could not explain the behavior.

Montoya said Simpson was released after he and several associates were questioned, and he remained in Las Vegas.

"We don't believe he's going anywhere," Montoya said.

The Las Vegas district attorney's office will decide whether to pursue charges.

On Thursday, the Goldman family published a book about the killings that Simpson had written under the title, "If I Did It," about how he would have committed the crime had he actually done it. After a deal for Simpson to publish it fell through, a federal bankruptcy judge awarded the book's rights to the Goldman family, who retitled it "If I Did It: The Confessions of the Killer."

Fred Goldman, Ron Goldman's father, said he was stunned by the news from Las Vegas. "He is proving over and over and over again that he thinks he can do anything and get away with it," he said.

Goldman's lawyer, David Cook, said he would seek a court order on Tuesday to get whatever items Simpson took in Las Vegas.