After skipping out on entering a Newport
Beach rehabilitation facility and facing the
prospect of arrest for violating her probation,
Lindsay Lohan has checked into the Betty
Ford Center to begin a 90-day court-mandated
stay in her reckless driving conviction.
Lohan also rehired her former attorney Shawn
Holley, who represented her for several years,
and the lawyer arranged for the "Mean Girls"
star to enter the Rancho Mirage facility.
The moves capped a chaotic 24 hours in
which Lohan showed up Thursday at
Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, only
to promptly leave. At that point, prosecutors
said they did not know where she was and
threatened to obtain an arrest warrant if she
did not return because she was in violation of
her probation.
But Santa Monica Chief Deputy City Atty.
Terry White said Friday that he had given
"tentative approval" to the actress to serve her
court-mandated rehab at a facility other than
the one in Newport Beach. White did not
specify the facility, but sources told The Times
that Lohan checked into the Betty Ford Center
late Thursday.
Lohan managed to rehire Holley to replace
attorney Mark Heller, who came under
repeated criticism for his handling of her
case.
White said Holley contacted him late
Thursday with a new plan to treat Lohan.
"I have given tentative approval, but a more
intensive investigation will be undertaken to
make sure it complies with all the probation
condition requirements," he said.
Lohan was previously at Betty Ford from
September 2010 to January 2011 after a
probation violation in a prior drunk driving
case. During that stay, an employee accused
her of battery, but prosecutors declined to
charge the actress.
Her latest stay at Betty Ford comes after
Lohan rear-ended a truck with her Porsche on
Pacific Coast Highway on June 8, and then
lied to police, telling them she was not
driving. She entered a no contest plea in
March and agreed to enter rehab, spend 18
months in psychotherapy and serve 30 days of
community service.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
James Dabney warned that any slip-up would
result in six months in jail for violating
probation.
In court Thursday morning, Lohan's then-
attorney, Heller, told the judge that his client
had begun her therapy at the Morningside
Recovery facility. Heller told the judge the
facility met all the requirements. But state
officials said the Newport Beach facility was
not licensed to provide residential drug or
alcohol treatment; it is certified to operate as
an outpatient clinic with sober living homes.
When Lohan arrived Thursday, she left within
minutes and did not even check in to the
facility.