O.J. Heist Items To Be Used As Restitution
Judge Says Memorabilia Will Be Sold To Pay Victim And Satisfy 1995 Wrongful Death Judgment
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O.J. Simpson reacts as he is sentenced on kidnapping and armed robbery charges, Dec. 5, 2008, in Las Vegas. (CBS)
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O.J. Simpson appears at his sentencing hearing on kidnapping and armed robbery charges, Dec. 5, 2008, in Las Vegas. (CBS)
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O.J's Emotional Plea
"CBS New RAW": Before being sentenced on kidnapping and armed robbery charges, a visibly emotional O.J. Simpson apologized to the court for his actions.
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Simpson Lawyer: It Was Payback
A Las Vegas judge has sentenced O.J. Simpson to prison time. As John Blackstone reports, Simpson's defense lawyer claims that this sentence was payback for the athlete's infamous murder trial.
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O.J. Simpson's Sentence
"CBS News RAW": O.J. Simpson has been sentenced to time in prison for hotel armed robbery.
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O.J. Simpson
The star football player, actor and spokesman turned convicted felon.
Once there, it'll be sold by the sheriff to satisfy a wrongful death judgment the families of slaying victims Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson won against Simpson in 1995.
Judge Jackie Glass also ruled Friday that Simpson, co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart and the four men who testified against them have to pay a combined $3,560 in restitution to collectibles dealer Bruce Fromong.
That'll pay about $2,600 in medical bills Fromong claimed after he was pushed into a chair while being robbed at gunpoint Sept. 13, 2007, in a Las Vegas casino hotel room.
Fromong, who lives in North Las Vegas, says he his outraged with the decision, reports CBS affiliate KLAS. Fromong says he feels he has now been victimized a second time and is out between $75,000 and $100,000 dollars in memorabilia.
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He was OK, IMO, with keeping stuff from the Goldman family - which I don''t like - but he still got worse than he deserved here.
Golly, I wonder if John Q. would have been prosecuted in a similar situation, trying to recover items from thieves that stole from him. Particularly given the easy off that the government "witnesses" (who were apparently the only ones insisting firearms were present) got from the prosecutor and judge.
I hate to say it, because I think OJ was probably guilty as hell in the LA murder, but I think he got royally screwed on this one, as well as that idiotic civil action by Goldmans parents, given that the case is still technically unsolved. What does OJ get if they later find out that the target was Goldman all along, and that his ex-wife was just in the way.
Posted by highlander60 at 05:08 PM : Dec 19, 2008
I agree.
Why are any of the people that were involved with fleecing the mortgage industry still walking around and why have their assets not been seized? I believe these people have all those ill-gotten gains. Every penny in these families should be confiscated for restitution.
This just illustrates that we live in an outright tyranny run by criminals under color of authority.
Posted by kevinkkloste
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I totally agree. He has made a shambles of his life and I wouldn''t give a plug nickel for any of his so-called "memorabilia".
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If it is a crime for OJ to steal from Fromong, why is it okay for the government to steal from Fromong?
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Fromong stole it from O.J. who wasn''t suppose to have it and then tried to steal it back from Fromong. Since it was O.J.''s and not Fromong''s it belongs to Goldman and Nicole%u2019s family. But I believe all of it should go to the family and let O.J. and clan come up with the money to pay back the government.
Posted by fiteit1 at 07:31 PM : Dec 19, 2008
The Goldmens would want OJ to sell these things, that he wanted to hid from them, and give them the money.
Second - as the court just ruled, the stuff wasn''t OJ''s - it belonged to the Goldman family. OJ is the thief, in this case - he took stuff he knew or suspected was about to be picked up, and gave it to others. That all came out in trial - he gave this stuff away - and then got mad that his ''buddies'' who were hiding this property from a legal judgement didn''t find ways to secret it back to him. The stuff was not OJ''s. He had it, lost it in a court case, gave it away to some buddies - it belonged to them or the Goldman family - not OJ. You don''t get to give stuff away, then demand it back at gunpoint.
He''s a memorabilia dealer. He got contacted by someone who said he had stuff to sell, and he bought it. He had no way of knowing if the stuff he bought was stolen - and there''s plenty of testimony from the guy he got it from that it wasn''t.
Posted by erasmus606 at 07:57 PM : Dec 19, 2008
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Pay back is a real ***.
Its just sad it took so long for "The Juice" to pay.
If as they say this was just about what he did in Nevada then why not treat him just like any other thug who did the crime and toss his *** in general population just like any one else would be.
He is a big time football has been so he can protect his assets so to speak.
I wish they would start treating this thing as a civil rights issue already. This guy is obviously being singled out.
Also, that judge should be charged with some sort of misconduct. From day one, she has unashamedly embarked on a one woman campaign of retaliartion for her co-religionists the Goldfingers.
Then they''''re admitting all along that all OJ did was attempt to retrieve stolen property that was his.
Golly, I wonder if John Q. would have been prosecuted in a similar situation, trying to recover items from thieves that stole from him. Particularly given the easy off that the government "witnesses" (who were apparently the only ones insisting firearms were present) got from the prosecutor and judge.
Good. Fromong is an opportunistic scumbag.
Golly, I wonder if John Q. would have been prosecuted in a similar situation, trying to recover items from thieves that stole from him. Particularly given the easy off that the government "witnesses" (who were apparently the only ones insisting firearms were present) got from the prosecutor and judge.
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Posted by summarex at 11:28 PM : Dec 19, 2008
*************************************************************** It is not that the items were or were not OJ''s but the way that He went in guns and all and held the people in the room there for a short length of time that sent OJ to jail. There are ways to get Your property back that won''t get you sent to prison. OJ didn''t take them in to consideration which shows that He is the Thug that made his own bed now he is going to have to lay in it. His problem was that He got away with things so long that He thought that He was above the law. I bet He is starting to see that He isn''t now though.
So the questions that has not been publicly answered is who was the actual owner of the items, and if the owner was Mr. Simpson, how did others come into possesion of them?
Doesn''t matter if the stuff was stolen or not, OJ and his buds didn''t have the right to go in there waving guns and threatening anybody over the stuff. He probably didn''t want to involve the police because that would have brought up the point of his selling it after the wrongful death conviction and having to give up the proceeds OR if it was stolen property, it still would have been taken to settle the law suit. Tough break for Fromong but when you play with the big boys you better be ready to get burned now and then. Likely as not the items were a mix of stolen and legit possesion memoribilia.
No problem with OJs trial and conviction and no problem with the seizure of the items if they were really supposed to have been part of the wrongful death lawsuit settlement.
According to the case record, some years back OJ gets a heads up that the sheriff is coming to confiscate things that now belong to the Goldman family according to the civil judgement. OJ calls up some buddies of his, and has them strip his mansion of everything he can, tells them he''d rather they had it (and he owed some of them money, and it was common practice that he''d pay in memorabilia) than the Goldmans. That''s how he gave it away. Then one of those guys, all these years later, sells the stuff to Fromong and Beardsley. And there we go. Fromong had no reason to think the stuff stolen. And OJ gave it away when he knew it no longer belonged to him. So it was not, in any way, OJ''s own posessions.
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Annette, I believe it is bad form to equate the pain suffered by a Goldman with the pain suffered by any other human being in the history of mankind.
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Posted by peacedreamer at 08:40 AM : Dec 20, 2008
Not if they were stolen before they were legally purchased by someone. The original owner get it back, and possession of stolen goods charges are possible against whoeve had them.
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by observer2020
December 22, 2008 12:27 PM PST
- clem641 and annette3332: Whatever happens to OJ is well deserved! If the items were actually stolen, why not call the police and let them handle it instead of attempting to steal them back? Stolen property is stolen property--end of story and it will land you in jail. If I were the Browns, I would let Goldman spend a tremendous amount of time (which totally stresses him out) and money and sit back and reap the material rewards. Nothing can bring back their daughter and son but if spending every waking moment on how to get back at OJ, let him. That''s his outlet to OJ''s terrible crime. OJ''s kids are now grown and hate their father and are also convinced that their father killed their mother. It''s all on the wheel...just nice to see it come full circle.
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