O.J. Simpson leaves court after closing arguments for his trial at the Clark County Regional Justice Center on October 2, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Simpson and co-defendant Clarence 'C.J.' Stewart are standing trial on 12 charges, including felony kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy related to a 2007 confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel. (Photo by Steve Marcus-Pool/Getty Images)
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A woman who dated O.J. Simpson for more than a decade after he was acquitted of murder has received a four-year suspended sentence in North Dakota for allegedly trying to snatch someone’s purse.
Christie Prody entered an Alford plea to the felony robbery charge in a Fargo courtroom Monday, meaning she didn’t admit guilt but acknowledged there likely was enough evidence to convict her. She also was sentenced to two years of supervised probation.
Prosecutors say Prody, 37, tried stealing a woman’s purse in November at a mall in Fargo, which neighbors Moorhead, Minn., her last known address.
Prody, who is currently jailed in Fargo, is accused in a separate case in Moorhead of stealing an elderly couple’s painkillers. Brian Melton, Clay County attorney, said the case was put on hold when Prody missed a November court date because she was behind bars.
“I would expect now that she’s done with her North Dakota matters that she’ll get back over here and appear on these matters,” Melton said Tuesday.
Prody is accused of twice stealing the couple’s prescription pills while working for them as an in-home nursing assistant. She’s charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of theft and two counts of drug possession. She faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the burglary counts and up to 5 years on each of the other four charges.
The couple originally reported that between 270 and 300 Oxycodone tablets were discovered missing. A surveillance camera installed alter by police shows Prody opening a bottle of painkillers, pouring a “number of pills” into her hand, and putting them in her mouth, the complaint said.
Prody was set to plead guilty in September, but instead attempted to get the case transferred to drug court.
“There had been some recommendations, or initially that was something we had looked at, until she had new criminal charges and new criminal activity going on,” Melton said. “That pretty much went away.”
Mara Rausch, Prody’s court-appointed attorney in the Minnesota case, declined to comment. Prody’s public defender in North Dakota, Laura Reynolds, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Prody and Simpson began dating in 1996 after he was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
