When O.J. Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2008 for kidnapping and armed robbery, the assumption of many was that would effectively be the last we heard of perhaps the most notorious athlete in American history.
Well, Simpson may have evaded tacklers as good as any running back in history, but he has struggled mightily to avoid trouble and headlines -- and not even prison can change that.
According to multiple reports, the 66-year-old Simpson was recently caught by guards at Nevada's Lovelock Correctional Center trying to steal more than a dozen oatmeal cookies, a violation of prison rules. Apparently guards noticed something under the former Buffalo Bill and USC Trojan's clothes, and when they stopped him, the began pulling the cookies out from under his shirt.
Simpson was reportedly let off with only a warning, but suffered humiliation at the hands of fellow inmates and was in strict violation of doctor's orders.
According to the National Enquirer:
Doctors had previously warned O.J., a severe diabetic, to clean up his diet and start exercising more -- or he could be dead within months.
"But the temptation of the cookies in the prison chow line was too much for him," said the source. "O.J. has been trying to diet since the doctors talked to him, but he loves sweets, and after a few weeks he couldn't take it anymore."
The Enquirer went on to say:
"Everyone thought he had smuggled in a cell phone or some other kind of contraband, so when the guard started pulling cookies out of O.J.'s shirt, the other inmates started laughing so hard they nearly fell over," said the source. "O.J. just stood there with a goofy grin on his face as the guard kept digging inside his shirt and throwing the cookies on the floor."
Multiple reports also stated that Simpson weighs in the neighborhood of 300 pounds and has high blood pressure.
It has been 45 years since Simpson won the 1968 Heisman Trophy at USC, and 34 years since he retired from the NFL with more than 11,000 career yards and 102 total touchdowns. The 1985 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee went on to a very successful acting career until the murders of his ex-wife and an acquaintance in 1994 and a series of subsequent bizarre events transformed Simpson from an acting star to the star of "the trial of the century." Acquitted of the murders, Simpson was found liable for the deaths in a civil trial, and had been dogged by various legal hassles and run-ins since.
He was found guilty in 2008 for his role in a 2007 incident at a room at the Palace Station hotel-casino during which sports memorabilia was stolen at gunpoint. Simpson claimed the memorabilia, much of which was Simpson items, was stolen. But in 2008 he was sentenced to 33 years in prison, though he was awarded parole on some of the charges in July of this year and faces at least four more years in prison.
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