The Saratogian (Saratoga, NY)

OJ Simpson is golfing a lot, staying in Las Vegas

- By Ken Ritter The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS » O.J. Simpson is not planning to move from Nevada to Florida like he told state parole officials before he was released in October from Nevada state prison, his Las Vegas lawyer said Thursday.

The 70-year-old former football hero, acquitted murder defendant and armed robbery inmate has not filed paperwork with parole officials to move to a different state, attorney Malcolm LaVergne said.

“Mr. Simpson has no immediate plans to return to Florida,” LaVergne told The Associated Press. “He’s very much enjoying his time here in Vegas. It’s January, he gets to play golf every day.”

A Nevada state parole and probation officer handling Simpson’s case did not immediatel­y respond to messages, and Florida prisons spokeswoma­n Ashley Cook said her agency has not received documents from Simpson seeking interstate custody.

Simpson has been spotted in public in and around Las Vegas several times during the more than three months he has been living in a friend’s five-bedroom home in a gated and guard-pa-

trolled community several miles (kilometers) from the Las Vegas Strip.

He drew a crowd of selfie-seekers Jan. 7 at a Las Vegas bar and pizza shop during an NFL playoff game featuring one of his former teams, the Buffalo Bills.

An outing in November to a steakhouse and a lounge at the Cosmopolit­an resort is in dispute, after officials ordered Simpson off the Las Vegas Strip property and prohibited him from returning.

LaVergne denies claims that Simpson was intoxicate­d or disruptive, and alleges in a Dec. 29 letter to hotel officials that the incident was a malicious and racially prejudiced effort to embarrass Simpson and jeopardize his parole status.

The Cosmopolit­an has not responded, company spokeswoma­n Samantha Grimes said Thursday.

Simpson has earned almost eight months of good time credit since his release from prison, bumping up his expected release from parole to Jan. 18, 2022, from the original Sept. 29, 2022.

He was released to parole Oct. 1 after nine years in prison for leading five men, including two with guns, in a September 2007 confrontat­ion with two sports collectibl­es dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel.

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