Lindsay Lohan Ordered Back To Rehab Until Jan. 3
Actress Lindsay Lohan can avoid going back to jail for violating her probation for drunken driving by staying away from drugs and alcohol, a judge ruled today.
The 24-year-old actress was told by Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Elden Fox that she must return to the Betty Ford Center until Jan. 3, and that if she does not test positive for drugs or alcohol before her next scheduled court hearing, Feb. 25, he will convert her sentence to unsupervised probation.
Prosecutors said, however, that if she violates her probation again, she could face 180 days in jail.
“I’m not going to be manipulated,” Fox said. “You are an addict. I think you have to change your lifestyle.”
He said that if she does not remain free of drugs and alcohol she would “destroy what is a very lucrative career and profession.”
The judge said he wanted to the starlet to remain in rehab through the end of the year.
“You’re staying there past the New Year — there’s a reason for that,” he said, as Lohan smiled and the courtroom erupted in laughter.
A court filing shows Lohan told probation officials last week that she didn’t want to remain in an inpatient rehab facility because it would be a financial hardship.
The actress was interviewed by officials on Oct. 14. The documents say she was advocating to leave the Betty Ford Center so she could continue to work.
The report summarizes Lohan’s interview, saying she told an officer that “continued inpatient treatment would be a hardship financially, and damaging to her career.”
Lohan arrived with her blond hair pulled back in a pony tail and wearing a black pantsuit and white blouse. She was accompanied by her mother, Dina, and a Betty Ford counselor.
Her father, Michael Lohan, was also at the hearing and seemed satisfied with the proceedings.
He kept saying “good, good, good,” and after the hearing he yelled a thank you to the judge.
Lohan had tears of relief in her eyes when the judge asked if she had any questions and she responded, “No your honor. I understand. Thank you.”
The judge also ordered her SCRAM alcohol monitoring bracelet removed because she is in rehab.
Lohan was initially ordered jailed for 30 days without bail on Sept. 24 by Fox.
But she was released from jail hours later after Patricia Schnegg, the Los Angeles Superior Court’s assistant supervising judge of criminal, ruled that Lohan should be allowed to post $300,000 bail.
“This is a misdemeanor probation case, and the defendant is also entitled, as a matter of right, to bail pending the outcome of the probation revocation issue,” Schnegg wrote in her order.
Lohan has been at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage since shortly after that.
The star of “The Parent Trap,” “Mean Girls” and “Freaky Friday” first ran afoul of the law on May 26, 2007, when she drove a Mercedes-Benz into a hedge along Sunset Boulevard.
Two months later she was arrested again in Santa Monica on suspicion of DUI and possession of cocaine.
She agreed to plead no contest and was sentenced to a day in jail and three years probation.
Because of overcrowded jails and the county’s early release policy, she spent 84 minutes at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood before being released.
Her probation was extended by a year for not completing alcohol- education classes on schedule.
In July, she missing a required probation hearing before Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel, saying her passport was stolen while she was at the Cannes Film Festival, and the judge sentenced her to 90 days in jail. She spent 13 days behind bars before being released again.
As part of her sentence, she was ordered to spend 90 days in an inpatient addiction treatment program. She was sent to UCLA’s neuropsychiatric hospital for evaluation, held for about three weeks and released Aug. 24.
She later failed a drug test, reportedly testing positive for cocaine and amphetamine.
“This was certainly a setback for me, but I am taking responsibility for my actions and I’m prepared to face the consequences,” she wrote on Twitter.
