O.J. Craps Out in Vegas

O.J. Simpson's learning the hard way that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Or more specifically, Vegas jails.

The trouble-prone actor and former footballer was arrested Sunday on multiple felony counts for what police say was an armed heist of sports memorabilia and what Simpson has described as his own personal "sting operation."

Simpson was arrested about 11 a.m., according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, and booked on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and single counts of conspiracy to commit a crime and burglary with a deadly weapon.

More charges could be brought against him, said Clark County District Attorney David Roger. As it stands, Simpson is looking at a maximum penalty of three to 35 years per count if convicted, or as Roger put it during a press conference Sunday afternoon: "He is facing a lot of time."

Simpson, 60, was moved from police headquarters to the Clark County Detention Center for booking Sunday evening. A judge has ordered him held without bail.

"He was very cooperative," said Captain James Dillon.

Simpson was arrested at the Palms by a plainsclothed officer and taken away in handcuffs in an SUV. He immediately invoked his right to an attorney, police said.

The police say up to a half-dozen people could wind up facing charges in connection with the Thursday incident, which took place at a room in the Palace Station casino hotel.

News of Simpson's collar came a day after his golfing buddy and fellow suspect, Walter Alexander, was arrested on similar charges

Alexander, 46, of Arizona, was rung up Saturday night on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a deadly weapon. He was released on his own recognizance.

Police are seeking four other men: Clarence Stewart, 53, of Las Vegas; Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas; Tom Scotto, whose age and hometown were not known; and another man who was not identified.

Earlier in Sunday, policed raided three area residences and recovered two firearms, clothing and some of the purportedly stolen goods.

Simpson has claimed he was simply trying to recover a cache of items that had been wrongly taken from him, including his NFL Hall of Fame plaque and a photograph of him with J. Edgar Hoover. He also has insisted he wasn't armed. Police said that despite the charges, it was not clear if Simpson had a gun.

Also on Sunday, TMZ posted snippets from a six-minute audiotape of the hotel confrontation the gossip site claims was recorded by Thomas Riccio, the coowner of the Universal Rarities auction house who was one of the four men who accompanied Simpson in his bid to recover the supposedly stolen goods.

On the tape, Simpson can be heard launching into a profanity-laced tirade against the collectors, telling his associates, "Don't let nobody out of this room." To those he believes stole his belongings, he shouts, "[Get] against the motherf---ing wall...You think you can steal my s--t and get away with it?"

Simpson, who has lived in Miami since his criminal and civil trials related to the 1994 murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, said he and his cohorts were attempting to secure the goods on their own, and he didn't want to get authorities involved because of his past.

"The police, since my trouble, have not worked out for me," Simpson told the Associated Press.

Simpson was acquitted of criminal charges but later found liable for wrongful death and ordered to pay more than $30 million to the Goldman and Brown families.

A Goldman family lawyer said he planned to go to court this week to make sure the mementos were not sold but instead turned over to the family to be auctioned off to help settle the civil judgment.

On Saturday, Alfred Beardsley, one of the collectors involved in the Thursday incident, said he had talked to Simpson and was now "on O.J.'s side" and wanted the case dropped.

Apparently, the police weren't listening.