Imprisoned pedophile Warren Jeffs must be pretty hungry -- he apparently hasn't eaten anything since he was sentenced to life in prison nearly three weeks ago, which has led to him getting rushed to a hospital in critical condition.
Jeffs, the former leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is serving his life sentence at a prison in Texas after being convicted of sexually assaulting two underage followers of his breakaway sect of the Mormon Church.
Jeffs, who has a history of starving himself while incarcerated,
reportedly told prison officials that he hasn't eaten since his
sentencing on August 9. Jeffs' attorney, Emily Detolo, tells the Associated Press her client was taken to the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler, Texas this morning in critical condition.
Jeffs, as you're probably aware, is a pretty bad dude. See former New Times staffer John Dougherty's articles on the the
secretive, isolated polygamist Mormon communities that straddle the
Arizona-Utah border here.
The
FLDS' original headquarters was based in Colorado City -- along the
Arizona/Utah border -- but Jeffs moved the Church's headquarters to
Texas after he faced criminal charges in Arizona. He was convicted of
accessory to rape in
Utah in 2007, but the conviction was overturned by the state Supreme
Court. In December he
was extradited to Texas to face charges there.
Prosecutors were able to prove through DNA evidence that Jeffs fathered a
child with a 15-year-old member of the church. They also played audio
recordings at trial of Jeffs sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
The two girls whom Jeffs has been convicted of sexually abusing are apparently the tip of the iceberg.
In 2004, Jeffs' nephew, Brent Jeffs, filed a lawsuit against his uncle
claiming he sodomized him in the late 1980s. Two of Jeffs' other nephews
also made claims that Jeffs sexually abused them, one of whom, Clayne
Jeffs, committed suicide.
Jeffs is the eighth member of the FLDS church convicted since
authorities raided the Yearning For Zion compound near San Angelo,
Texas, in 2008 after Child Protective Services received several calls
from juveniles claiming they'd been abused.
UPDATE: A prison official says Jeffs is in stable condition and not expected to die, as ABC News and other news outlets reported.