US polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs hospitalized in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS – Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was taken from jail to a Las Vegas hospital Tuesday for an unspecified medical problem.
Jeffs, 52, was brought to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center from an Arizona jail, said Las Vegas police Officer Jose Montoya. Montoya declined to provide details on Jeffs’ medical condition and referred questions to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona. Calls to a sheriff’s spokeswoman were not immediately returned.
Jeffs is president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – an insular faith of nearly 6,000.
In November, 2007, Jeffs was sentenced to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison for forcing a young girl in his cult into an arranged marriage.
He is awaiting trial in Arizona on 10 felony charges — five counts of sexual conduct with a minor, four counts of incest and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.
In January, 2007, Jeffs reportedly twice attempted to commit suicide.
The Las Vegas Journal Review reports he is under armed guard.