Arraignment set

When Las Vegas police knocked on O.J. Simpson's hotel room door at the Palms Sunday morning, he was expecting them.

He had been questioned in the armed robbery at Palace Station three days earlier, so after police arrested another man in the case Saturday night, Simpson prepared for the inevitable, according to an arrest report obtained by the Review-Journal.

Sitting in a police car with cuffs on, Simpson said "he knew that he would be arrested soon, so that this was not a real surprise to him," the report said.

The arrest report was filed Tuesday with Las Vegas Justice Court in support of the 11 criminal charges prosecutors pressed against Simpson, Walter Alexander, Clarence Stewart and Michael McClinton. All four men were charged with two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, coercion with a deadly weapon, two counts of first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon, burglary and several counts of conspiracy.

McClinton, a 53-year-old Las Vegas resident, was the last of the four men to be arrested after surrendering to police Tuesday afternoon.

Detectives were still searching for two unidentified men seen on hotel camera footage carrying boxes that police believe had some of the collectibles taken during the robbery.

Simpson, who was at the Clark County Detention Center without bail, will appear in Justice Court this morning for an arraignment on the charges stemming from the Thursday evening heist at Palace Station.

The 60-year-old Heisman Trophy winner will be represented by his Florida lawyer, Yale Galanter, and Las Vegas lawyer Gabriel Grasso. On his Web site, Galanter describes himself as a popular television guest and legal expert who has been interviewed in newspapers and on television about the Kobe Bryant rape case, the Scott Peterson murder case and other national court cases. Grasso has represented defendants in the 311 Boyz gang violence case and the recent case of a Chinese acrobat troupe leader accused of human trafficking.

Simpson's legal team will face off with District Attorney David Roger and Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Owens, two experienced prosecutors who have handled some of Las Vegas' most high-profile cases, including the first Ted Binion murder trial and the Laughlin River Run riot.

The prosecution already suffered one potential setback Tuesday when Bruce Fromong, a crucial witness in the case, was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital after a heart attack. He was listed in critical condition.

Fromong, 53, and fellow memorabilia collector Alfred Beardsley, 45, told police they had gone to Palace Station on Thursday to meet a prospective buyer interested in Fromong's collection of Simpson memorabilia. The meeting was arranged by Thomas Riccio, a California auction house owner who contacted Beardsley about the buyer, the report said.

Beardsley, from Burbank, Calif., called Fromong, a North Las Vegas resident who once worked for Simpson and was looking to sell some of his collection, the report said.

Fromong, who didn't know Riccio, showed up with the memorabilia expecting to meet a legitimate buyer.

Fromong was greeted by six angry men and two handguns instead, according to authorities.

The robbers burst into Room 1203, shouting profanities and barking orders.

One yelled, "I'm a cop and you're lucky this ain't L.A. or you'd be dead," and frisked Fromong and Beardsley, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Simpson yelled at Fromong and Beardsley, whom he knew.

"I thought you were my friend," Simpson said. "Give me my (expletive) back."

The suspects used pillowcases and boxes to collect the memorabilia spread on the bed.

The collection included dozens of Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Duke Snider and Pete Rose, and an array of Simpson-signed footballs and plaques. Fromong told police the collection was worth $80,000 to $100,000.

The robbers also took Beardsley's baseball cap and sunglasses, which were sitting on the bed, and Simpson snatched Fromong's cell phone from his hand, the report said.

When he was interviewed by police, Riccio said he knew Simpson was going into the room to take the collectibles, but he didn't know guns would be involved, according to the report.

"He explained he was told that the property belonged to Simpson, and that Simpson just wanted to confront Fromong and get his property back," the report stated.

Police have said Riccio could face charges in connection to the armed robbery.

Riccio already has served eight years in prison for several felony convictions in California, according to Internet records.

Detectives called Simpson on Friday, the day after the incident, and he agreed to talk. He greeted them warmly at his room.

"C'mon in," Simpson said with a wave before shaking each of the five detectives' hands and thanking them for coming, the report said.

Simpson then asked two women who had been in the room with him to leave.

"They did so, leaving just Mr. Simpson, a small dog and Detectives in the room," police wrote in the report.

During the interview with police, Simpson defended his actions while lashing out at Fromong, Beardsley and Mike Gilbert, a former associate whom he believed stole the memorabilia from him, the report said.

"My All-American ball! I would never give that away!" Simpson told police. "They were all sitting on the bed. I would never give Mike this stuff."

He also denied using physical force or committing a crime, the report stated.

"As pissed off as I was with them, it wasn't that type of thing," he told police. "If these guys were legit, they would have got big bucks on the Internet" for the merchandise.

Simpson has said publicly that the memorabilia was stolen from a storage locker by Gilbert, who admitted to taking Simpson's Heisman Trophy and other items because the football legend owed him money, according to news reports.

Gilbert later gave the goods to authorities, the reports said.

Las Vegas police got a break in their case late Friday night from a woman who said she was an old friend of Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson. The woman said one of the men involved in the caper, Alexander, had a one-way ticket to Phoenix the next day, the report said.

The tipster said Alexander was a golfing buddy of Simpson who supplied the guns for the robbery, the report said.

Detectives staked out the Southwest Airlines check-in counter at McCarran International Airport on Saturday afternoon and spotted Alexander, whom they recognized from Palace Station surveillance video. Alexander seemed to know what they wanted and agreed to talk, the report said.

"The memorabilia isn't in my bag," he told police at the airport.

Alexander, 47, of Mesa, Ariz., spoke briefly with detectives before calling his lawyer and clamming up. Detectives arrested him and took him to jail.

That night, police searched the Las Vegas Valley homes of McClinton and Stewart, 49.

McClinton has a permit to carry a concealed handgun, and at his house police found two handguns, a .22-caliber Beretta and .45-caliber Ruger, that matched the descriptions of the weapons alleged to have been used in the robbery. Police also found suits that matched one worn by one of the suspects, the report said.

At Stewart's house police found a shirt matching one worn by another suspect, the report said.

With the evidence in hand, detectives decided they had enough to arrest Simpson. He went along without a fight when police showed up at his room.

Police cuffed Simpson and sneaked him out of the Palms to an unmarked patrol car. On the drive to the detective bureau, "Simpson kept saying he didn't do anything wrong and he was just getting his property back and that he knew these people and some were his friends," according to the report.

"He also said he came to Vegas and 'look what happened, I got arrested,' " the report said.

Review-Journal staff writer David Kihara and the Associated Press contributed to this report.