Fleiss Held in Alleged Use of Drugs : Courts: A judge issues a bench warrant after tests indicate accused madam used stimulants and depressants, in violation of bail terms.

Accused Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss was in jail Friday after drug tests indicated she had used stimulants and depressants in violation of her bail terms while awaiting trial on federal charges that she hid call-girl ring profits from the IRS.

U.S. marshals arrested Fleiss at her Venice condominium Thursday evening on a bench warrant authorized by U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall. The judge acted at the recommendation of the court pretrial services officers who supervised the urine tests.

Fleiss, 28, who is also awaiting trial on separate state criminal charges that she procured women to engage in prostitution and possessed cocaine for sale, had not opposed the prosecution’s request that she submit to drug tests, said her lawyer, Donald B. Marks.

“We had good reason to believe that Heidi did not have a (drug) problem and would test successfully,” said Marks. If she has developed a problem, Marks said, it may be because of the extraordinary stress of being a high-profile defendant in state and federal prosecutions.

According to court pretrial service officers, Fleiss tested positive for benzodiazepines--a class of drugs that includes prescription medications such as Valium that are used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders--on Aug. 9; positive for amphetamines/methamphetamines and benzodiazepines on Aug. 18 and Aug. 26 and positive for benzodiazepines again on Aug. 29.

Speaking without detailed knowledge of the Fleiss case, Charles A. Reynolds, the senior pharmacist at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital, said that many abusers combine these kinds of drugs.

Benzodiazepines, he said, are a class of central nervous system depressants that include Librium, Atavan, Xanax and Halcion. Amphetamines are central nervous system stimulants used legitimately to treat attention deficit disorders and narcolepsy, a condition characterized by a frequent and uncontrollable desire to sleep. “You can get an energetic high from the amphetamines and then, when you’re tired of that, you can bring yourself down with benzodiazepines,” Reynolds said.

Pretrial services officers informed Judge Marshall of the test results in writing Thursday and requested an arrest warrant, which was authorized and executed the same day.

“We believe the courts are not doing this as a punitive measure,” said Fleiss’ attorney, Marks. “I think the court is concerned about her welfare.”

Fleiss will spend the weekend at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center Downtown pending a hearing Monday afternoon on whether her $50,000 bond should be revoked. Marshall could free her, order her held in jail until her federal tax evasion trial Dec. 6, or allow her to be free if she participates in a drug rehabilitation program.

The U.S. attorney’s office declined comment on the arrest. “The action was taken by the judge and pretrial services and did not involve our office and we cannot comment,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark C. Holscher said.

Fleiss’ trial in state court, where a court spokeswoman said she has been free on her own recognizance, is set to begin next Monday. But Marks said it will be postponed at least a week because his co-counsel is out of town. It could begin with jury selection as early as Sept. 26--the same day O.J. Simpson is scheduled to go on trial down the hall in the Downtown Criminal Courts Building.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, Sandi Gibbons, said the federal arrest would not interfere with the state case. “If she remains in federal custody, they’ll make sure she gets here,” Gibbons said.

Fleiss, the alleged head of a pricey call girl ring whose customers are said to have included many in the entertainment industry, is accused in the state case of supplying the services of four prostitutes in June, 1993, to undercover police officers posing as Japanese businessmen. The officers said they arranged with Fleiss for a “party” at a Beverly Hills hotel that included one of the prostitutes supplying an eighth of an ounce of cocaine.