A mother-of-three who was convicted for making up a story about being gang-raped briefly escaped a hospital last month where she was taken under arrest.
Leiha Ann-Sue Artman, 26, was sentenced to a year in prison for lying to police officers in March 2016, saying she had been kidnapped and gang-raped by four black men.
At first, Artman escaped having to spend any of her sentence in an actual prison, when she was immediately put into a ‘swift and sure’ intensive probation program, and then a residential jail alternative program.
But she violated the terms of her probation on October 1, when she went missing from her residential program.
Leiha Ann-Sue Artman, who was jailed last year for making up a story about being gang-raped (right, a picture sent to her boyfriend during the debacle) was recently caught trying to flee a hospital (left) where she was taken by her jailers
Officials wouldn’t say why Artman was taken to Mercy Health in Muskegon on October 10
A warrant was issued for her arrest, and she was caught on or before October 10 -when jail corrections officers took her to Mercy Health Partners to be ‘treated and examined.
‘It’s alleged that while at the hospital, she attempted to flee the custody of the deputies who transported her,’ Muskegon County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat told MLive.com.
Artman ran out onto the street, but she was pursued by deputies who quickly caught her.
Maat declined to say why Artman was taken to the hospital in the first place.
Artman has been charged with resisting and obstructing police, and prosecutors are considering hitting her with additional charges, including jail escape.
Since her conviction, authorities say a warrant has been issued for Artman’s arrest on three other occasions, when she violated the terms of her parole.
The first happened in June 20, after she used alcohol and cocaine on two separate occasions.
The mother of three is a former heroin addict. She’s pictured above with one of her children
On July 18, another warrant was issued when she failed to submit to substance abuse testing.
And on September 7, she got a third strike for using cocaine.
Artman is awaiting a sentencing for a fourth violation on her parole – for absconding from her residential program.
Artman has a long criminal history, but her biggest issues stem from her conviction last year for making up a gang-rape story.
Artman claimed she was abducted when a group of four men stopped to ask her for directions while she stood in the driveway of her home in March 2016.
The 26-year-old said they threw her in the trunk of their car, beat and sexually assaulted her.
During the two days she was missing, her boyfriend received photographs of her in which she appeared gagged, bound and bleeding from the head.
She was sentenced to one year behind bars in October 2016 after admitting to one count of making a false report of a felony.
MLive reports the woman was told she would not be put behind bars in exchange for making the plea which, given her previous criminal record, carries a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment.
Her partner, who wished to remain anonymous, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday she had been coerced into making the plea and into fabricating the story.
Artman (left and right) told police last year that she was kidnapped by four black men and then gang-raped by them
He maintained she was raped and beaten but not by the people she initially blamed.
She made up the story in fear her real attacker would later punish her for incriminating him, he said.
‘All I know is that I woke up to some very, very brutal pictures.
‘She did make up a story saying it was four black men but, at the end of the day, she did get really, really hurt by someone.
‘She is a good woman and a good mother. She was a heroin addict that needed help and rehab.’
The man collected Artman on March 29, two days after she said she was kidnapped, in a street near her mother’s home.
She phoned him after being dropped off by her captor, she said, to have him collect her.
He said she was ‘bleeding’ and ‘really hurt’. The pair visited a hospital, where he said she requested emergency contraception.
Police interviewed her while she received treatment there. It is not clear whether they believe she was attacked at all.
In the image sent to her boyfriend, Artman is seen gagged and with what appears to be blood pouring from her head.
Text messages which accompanied the photograph demanded money for her release. He said none was exchanged.
After her conviction, Artman was put in a probation program, but has violated her probation four times in the last year, sending her back to jail