LOS ANGELES - O.J. Simpson was questioned by Las Vegas police after a sports memorabilia dealer accused the former star athlete and murder defendant of robbing him at gunpoint, police and others said on Friday.
Simpson, who was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend in 1995 after one of the most sensational trials in U.S. history, was not charged in the robbery case at a casino hotel and was cooperating in the investigation, police said.
But detectives planned to question Simpson, 60, again about his involvement in the Thursday night incident, which was reported by the memorabilia dealer as an armed robbery in his room at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino.
Las Vegas police were looking for at least two people who were with Simpson in the hotel room during the confrontation.
"The victim stated that one of the suspects involved in the robbery was O.J. Simpson," said police Capt. James Dillon. "The items taken were various sports-related products."
Dillon said detectives could not confirm that weapons were drawn in the room and were studying casino video surveillance tapes.
"We have a report from the victim that there were weapons involved," he said. "We have not determined that at this time and have not recovered any weapons."
Dillon said Simpson, who lives in Florida, "has not been restricted in any form. He can leave Las Vegas."
"ROBBED AT GUNPOINT"
An attorney for Fred Goldman, whose son, Ron, was one of two people Simpson was accused of stabbing and slashing to death on June 12, 1994, said he had spoken with the memorabilia dealer, Alfred Beardsley.
"I was told by Mr. Beardsley that he was robbed at gunpoint by O.J. Simpson in a hotel room in Las Vegas," Goldman lawyer David Cook said.
Beardsley confirmed to Reuters that he had filed a police report about the altercation. He said detectives had asked him not to speak to reporters during the investigation.
An attorney for Simpson could not be reached for comment.
The robbery accusations against Simpson became public on the same day his controversial ghost-written book, "If I Did It," hit retail shelves.
The book offers a hypothetical account of how the celebrated U.S. football running back turned television pitch man and actor might have killed his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995 after a trial that was carried live across the country, transfixing Americans. But a civil court jury later found him responsible for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages to the Brown and Goldman families.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20782350/
