Spears released from UCLA hospital

Pop singer Britney Spears was released from a psychiatric ward at the UCLA Medical Center today after nearly a week of treatment.

It was unclear where she was going, but sources said she might head to one of her homes before seeking additional treatment.

Unlike the spectacle surrounding her trip to the Westwood medical facility last week, she slipped out with relatively little fanfare. A private security detail escorted her in contrast to last week when more than a dozen Los Angeles police officers escorted Spears to the hospital via motorcade.

The LAPD said they took that step after increasingly aggressive tactics by paparazzi have forced them to take costly precautions. Authorities said she was headed home before seeking additional treatments.

Her release comes after Spears’ mother, in court documents, said her daughter’s self-described friend and manager exerted near-total control over the singer, cutting her phone lines, taking away her cellphone chargers, disabling her vehicles and grinding up pills to place in her food. Spears’ mother alleges in a restraining order against the man.

Spears’ mother made the allegations in a request for a restraining order against the manager, Sam Lutfi. The restraining order, approved Friday and released by the court Tuesday, bars Lutfi from coming within 250 yards of the singer.

Spears’ father and an attorney have been granted temporary conservatorship over Spears and her estate. According to sources, a grand theft report was filed by Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, after the singer was taken to the UCLA hospital last week.

The grand theft report alleges that paintings, jewelry and other valuables were taken from his daughter’s Coldwater Canyon home. A limited number of people had access to the home in that period, sources said.

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com