A longtime friend of O.J. Simspon, who has a parole hearing Thursday in Nevada, thinks the former football star and convict will eventually make his way to the Tampa Bay area.

  • Tampa's Norman Pardo said he met Simpson in 1999
  • Simpson has served 9 years in prison for 2008 conviction
  • Simpson has family, friends in Tampa Bay area
  • Former football star has good chance of parole

Norman Pardo, who lives in the Tampa area, said he first met Simpson in 1999, a few years after Simpson was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

Pardo said he warned Simpson about the Las Vegas meeting that eventually got Simpson convicted in 2008 of kidnapping and robbery.

“It was a setup," Pardo explained. "I knew that — that's why I'm not in prison.

"I told him, 'Don’t go; there’s something wrong with that picture.' But he went,” Pardo said. “He didn’t really steal memorabilia — that was his child’s pictures. He had a kid that died when he was 2 years old, and the only photographs he had of the child were in that room, and they sort of lured him in there, his so-called friends, 'BFFs.' ”

Norman Pardo with O.J. Simpson. (Photo courtesy of Norman Pardo)

Simpson has spent almost a decade behind bars. The former Heisman Trophy winner was sentenced to a minimum of nine years and a maximum of 33 years in prison.

Pardo said he will be watching Simpson’s parole hearing from Tampa.

“I’m not going personally," he said. "It’s a circus event."

Although he won't see it unfold in person, Pardo has a theory about how things are going to play out.

“I think that the (Nevada parole) board’s going to take into consideration the fact I think he’s done nothing wrong in there. So he’s due,” he said. “I really wouldn’t be surprised either way.

"This is O.J. Simpson we’re talking about — this is not a normal person who has a normal situation," Pardo said. "This is a guy who some people feel is a murderer and needs to stay in prison for the rest of his life, regardless of a robbery.”

Pardo said he moved to the Tampa Bay area about a year ago. He said he managed Simpson’s career years ago, but his new job after the former football star went to prison was to protect his children from the public eye.

“My job has always been and it will always be — and he told me when he was in jail — he said, 'You can do whatever I do, but make sure you keep my kids out of the media.' And I’ve been good about protecting them the best I can,” Pardo said.

Simpson's two youngest children from Nicole Brown Simpson live in the Tampa area.

By most accounts, Simpson has a clean prison record and a good chance for release. Simpson is expected to reiterate that he has kept a promise to stay out of trouble, coaches in the prison gym where he works and counsels other inmates.

If Simpson is granted parole, he wouldn’t be free until October at the earliest.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.