LAS VEGAS An apparent audiotape of O.J. Simpson's standoff with men he accused of stealing his memorabilia begins with the ex-NFL star demanding, "Don't let nobody out this room. ... Think you can steal my (expletive) and sell it?"
Simpson was arrested Sunday and booked at a county jail on charges connected with what police described as a robbery at a Las Vegas hotel.
In an audiotape released Monday by the celebrity news Web site TMZ.com, Simpson is heard shouting questions while other men shout orders to the men in the room.
TMZ said the recording was made on a handheld recorder belonging to Thomas Riccio, co-owner of the auction house Universal Rarities. Riccio did not immediately return a call for comment Monday.
Simpson has said Riccio called him several weeks ago to say some collectors were selling some of his items. Riccio set up a meeting with collectors under the guise that he had a private collector interested in buying Simpson's items.
Riccio told the site he believed Simpson was planning to confront Alfred Beardsley, who was allegedly planning to auction off Simpson memorabilia. The site said the objects of Simpson anger were Beardsley and another collector, Bruce Fromong.
Simpson he was accompanied by men he met at a wedding cocktail party, and they took the collectibles. Fromong said Simpson was the last of the men to enter the hotel room.
"O.J. was the last person I was expecting to see and when I saw him I was just thinking, 'O.J., how can you be this stupid?"' Fromong told CBS's "The Early Show."
He said Simpson left him a voice mail message after the alleged robbery telling him some of Fromong's things were "mixed up" with his and asking how he could give them back.
"It's like a bad dream," said Beardsley. "I'm sad that O.J. is in custody."
Simpson said the dispute was merely a confrontation with no guns. He said autographed sports collectibles, his Hall of Fame certificate, a photograph with former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and video from his first wedding were all his, and that they were stolen from him and were about to be fenced by unethical collectors.
Police said they were not sure who owned the memorabilia. But they say the manner in which the goods were taken was under investigation. .......
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