Polygamous sect leader refuses Texas extradition

Salt Lake City, USA - Utah prison officials say polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs has refused to sign a warrant seeking his extradition to Texas to face criminal charges.

Department of Corrections Deputy Director Mike Haddon says the warrant was served at the Draper prison on June 24.

Jeffs, 54, was convicted of rape charges in Utah in 2007. He faces felony indictment on charges of sexual assault of a child and bigamy in Texas.

Defense attorneys Wally Bugden and Tara Isaacson declined comment late Monday.

Jeffs is the ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Utah church practices polygamy in arranged marriages that have sometimes involved underage girls.

The Texas charges stem from evidence gathered in raid on a church ranch.