EDMONTON - An Edmonton man who was declared a dangerous offender for a vicious beating that left a man in a vegetative state has been accused of having drugs in his jail cell.

Leo Teskey was being held at the Edmonton Remand Centre in early August awaiting transfer to a federal facility when authorities allege they found the stash.

Michelle Davio, a spokeswoman with the Alberta Solicitor General's Office, says it is believed a visitor to the facility smuggled drugs in.

Teskey was declared a dangerous offender in late July, meaning he will be imprisoned indefinitely.

He was convicted of aggravated assault of Dougald Miller in November 2000, and already had a violent history before that.

Davio referred questions on what drugs may have been found to the Edmonton police, but no one with the force was able to comment late Saturday.

"It wasn't a large amount," Davio said. "But I understand it was more than one kind."

Davio said corrections officers searched Teskey after receiving information that he might be in possession of drugs. She said Edmonton police then laid charges.

July was the second time Teskey was deemed a dangerous offender. The first time was after he was initially convicted of aggravated assault in the Miller case, but the Supreme Court ordered a new trial.

Teskey was convicted again in February 2009.

When deeming Teskey a danger to the public, provincial court Judge Eric Peterson said Teskey had a serious substance abuse problem that he doesn't acknowledge and continues to deny responsibility for his actions and blames others.

"It's impossible to create an environment where all the risk factors are missing ... a long-term offender designation is inadequate to monitor him ... the only fit sentence is an indeterminate sentence," Peterson said at the time.

Davio said the conditions under which inmates are housed depends on what sort of danger they pose. She wasn't sure what sort of conditions Teskey would have been kept under while he was awaiting transfer to federal jail.

"I would anticipate that he's got a fair bit of notoriety so I would expect that he would be kept away from the general population," Davio said, noting that she didn't believe Teskey had a cell mate in remand.

Miller was walking through a building he and his wife, Lesley, owned on Nov. 21, 2000, when he came across Teskey sleeping in the hall.

While the caretaker escorted him out of the building, Teskey launched a brutal attack, crushing the man's skull and breaking his jaw. His victim has been in a care facility ever since, unable to talk or move on his own and able to communicate only by blinking.

Teskey's lengthy rap sheet includes a conviction for shooting Edmonton police Const. Mike Lakusta in 1988. He was also convicted in 1994 of tearing the penis off the two-year-old son of a girlfriend.