Lohan due in court over necklace 'theft'
US prosecutors said they plan to charge Lindsay Lohan with felony grand theft of a $2,500 (€1,800) necklace reported stolen from a jewellery store last month - the most serious count the actress has faced in more than three years of trouble with the law.
District Attorney’s spokeswoman Jane Robison said the charge will be filed today. Lohan, 24, is due in court for an arraignment this afternoon.
Los Angeles police said on February 2 that Lohan was under investigation for taking a necklace from a Venice store later identified as Kamofie and Co.
Detectives obtained a search warrant to try to retrieve the item from Lohan’s home, but it was turned in to a police station before any search was made.
Police said they had no update on the case and did not say whether the actress had made arrangements to turn herself in at court or at a police station.
Ms Robison said bail would be decided by a judge.
“We vehemently deny these allegations and, if charges are filed, we will fight them in court, not in the press,” Lohan’s lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley said in a statement released on Saturday.
Arrested twice in 2007, Lohan was charged with drunken driving and drug possession, but both were misdemeanours.
The 'Mean Girls' star has been jailed three times in that case, but has been granted a quick release due to jail overcrowding and a requirement that bail be set on misdemeanour cases.
Lohan remains on probation for drunken driving, and a judge has threatened to throw her in jail if she runs into trouble again.
Prosecutors in Riverside County have been considering whether to press charges against Lohan for a December altercation with a worker from the Betty Ford Centre, where she was being treated.
The treatment, her fifth rehab session, came after she admitted failing a drug test shortly after being granted early release from another treatment program.
Lohan’s court struggles and treatment have taken a serious toll on the former Disney star’s career.
Her role as porn star Linda Lovelace in a biopic was recast last year while Lohan was at Betty Ford and no replacement projects have been announced.
She had been due in court on February 25 for a probation status hearing and a judge had said he would be willing to loosen the terms of her probation if she remained out of trouble.
