LAS VEGAS — New charges of felony coercion were filed Wednesday against O.J. Simpson and three co-defendants in the alleged armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers.
The revised complaint also drops charges against Walter Alexander and Charles Cashmore, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to reduced charges.
Alexander, Simpson’s golfing buddy, and Cashmore, at times a day laborer, disc jockey and bartender, have agreed to testify at a preliminary hearing against the former football star and the other men who went to a Las Vegas casino hotel room on Sept. 13 to retrieve items that Simpson said belonged to him.
The memorabilia taken from the hotel room included football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider, photos of Simpson with the Heisman Trophy, and framed awards and plaques, together valued at as much as $100,000, according to police reports.
The revised complaint increases to 12 the number of charges against Simpson, Clarence Stewart, Michael McClinton and Charles Ehrlich. The four are to appear for the preliminary hearing Nov. 8 on felonies — including kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and coercion — and one gross misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit a crime. A kidnapping conviction could result in a life sentence.
The new coercion charges allege that the men threatened collectibles dealer Bruce Fromong and took his cell phone, while taking a baseball cap and sunglasses at gunpoint from memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley.
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