He's Baaaaack!

By Pamela Mortimer

O.J. Simpson is back in the news. This time the NFL Hall of Famer is charged with seven felonies and one misdemeanor stemming from an alleged robbery at a Las Vegas hotel.

An audiotape revealing an argument between O.J. and men he accused of stealing memorabilia lead to Simpson’s arrest on Sunday. He is being held without bail.

The tape begins with Simpson ordering, "Don't let nobody out of here."

"Think you can steal my s— and sell it?" said the voice identified as Simpson's.

According to the audiotape released on Monday by the celebrity news Web site TMZ.com, a voice believed to belong to Simpson shouts questions while other men shout demands to the people in the room. TMZ reports that the tape was made by Thomas Riccio, co-owner of the auction house Universal Rarities. Simpson stated that Riccio called him several weeks ago to alert him to the fact that collectors were selling some of his memorabilia.

Riccio was unavailable for comment Monday, but told TMZ that he believed Simpson was planning to confront Alfred Beardsley, the man who was allegedly planning to auction off the memorabilia.

Bruce Fromong, another collector in the hotel room, said the meeting was designed to appear as if the men were customers, but when they arrived, it was clear that was not the case.

"The door burst open and they came in almost commando style, O.J. Simpson and some of his people, I guess you would call it, with guns drawn," Fromong said in an interview on the Monday edition of Good Morning America. "O.J. at that time was saying, ‘I want my stuff. I want my stuff.’"

"The thing in my mind as soon as I saw him, I'm thinking, ‘O.J., how can you be this dumb? You're in enough trouble.’"

O.J tried to play down the incident by saying that it was merely a confrontation with no guns. He claimed the men possessed autographed sports collectibles, his Hall of Fame certificate, a photograph with former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and the wedding video from his first marriage. Simpson claims that the items were stolen and were going to be fenced by unethical collectors.

The items obviously belonged to Simpson at one time, Fromang said, "but these were things that belonged to him a long time ago."

Police are unsure who legally owns the memorabilia.

"Whether or not the property belonged to Mr. Simpson or not is still in debate," Lt. Clint Nichols said Sunday. "Having said that, the manner in which this property was taken, we have a responsibility to look into that, irregardless of who the property belonged to."

After police whisked him away in handcuffs on Sunday night, Simpson was booked on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and conspiracy to commit a crime and burglary with a firearm.

Simpson is likely to be charged with seven felonies and one gross misdemeanor, according to the district attorney. If he’s convicted, Simpson could face up to 30 years in prison on each count.