Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
There's been a health scare for polygamist-sect leader Warren Jeffs. He was found convulsive and feverish in his Arizona jail cell last night and was flown to a Las Vegas hospital.
He is out of the Las Vegas hospital now,but police there say they don't know whether he was taken back to jail in Kingman, Arizona, or taken elsewhere.
Jeffs had been at the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nev., since Tuesday. It's unusual for a jail inmate to be taken out of state for medical treatment, but he was under 24-hour guard by deputies and detention officers from Mohave County, Ariz.
Jeffs was taken from Utah to the Mohave County Jail in Kingman, Ariz. in late February after he was found guilty for his part in arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin. He was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison and faces two similar trials in Arizona on charges of being an accomplice of incest and sexual misconduct.
The Mohave County Sheriff's Office will only confirms that on July 8, Jeffs was transported first to the Kingman Regional Medical Center and was later airlifted to Sunrise Medical Center in Las Vegas.
A source close to law enforcement tells KSL Jeffs' health started failing several weeks ago when photos of him kissing a 12-year-old girl were aired by several media outlets. The source tells us Jeffs stopped eating after the photos were published, and he went into a "funk," realizing Texas officials might have evidence to prosecute him there too.
Over the past few days, the source says there was a diagnostic procedure, like an MRI, that caused great concern among jail medical authorities. He says that is why Jeffs was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
We contacted the hospital today, but due to federal privacy rules, no one could tell us anything more about Jeffs' condition.
We do know Jeffs' health has deteriorated since he was arrested in 2006. Court records show he's tried to hang himself, and he banged his head and body against walls. He once refused food and drink for a month and developed ulcers on his knees from praying for hours.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
