The owner of a Norcross supplement company collapsed late this morning on the third day of a hearing that could send him to prison, and he was taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Jared Wheat, of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, was found on the floor of a men’s room outside the federal courtroom where the hearing was under way. He was taken to a hospital about noon. Information on his condition was not immediately available.
Meanwhile, inside the courtroom, the proceedings continued, with attorneys for the Federal Trade Commission presenting their case against Wheat and another Hi-Tech executive, and Hi-Tech attorneys presenting a rebuttal.
The FTC is seeking to have the executives jailed to force compliance with a recall of Hi-Tech products, which was ordered in mid-May.
Earlier, Wheat had been on the stand as FTC attorneys attempted to question him about compliance with the recall. But Wheat invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination to every question asked by FTC attorney Amanda Basta.
Wheat took the Fifth 19 times before U.S. District Senior Judge Charles Pannell said, “I think we’ve gone far enough,” and ended Basta’s questioning.
Wheat apparently collapsed about 45 minutes later. Two workers in another courtroom at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse found him. Paramedics arrived 30 minutes later and took Wheat out on a stretcher. He was conscious and able to answer questions, though he appeared to be shaking.
Wheat, who is 42, had been in and out of the courtroom, apparently ill, several times during as the hearing proceeded over the past three days. Thursday afternoon, he had complained of chest pains.
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