Judge gets tough with Lindsay Lohan

A judge warned Lindsay Lohan on Thursday to speed up the pace of her community service work on a necklace theft conviction and start psychological counseling within 21 days or face having her probation revoked.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner ignored pleas by Lohan’s attorney that the actress has not worked enough recently to be eligible for health insurance, which hindered her ability to get court-ordered private psychological counseling.

Lohan, 25, clad in a designer outfit and $1,200 high heels, has appeared in more courtrooms than movies in recent years as she moves in and out of jail and rehab.

Further complicating her woes, a former staffer at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage sued the “Mean Girls” star Thursday for $1 million over an alleged assault by Lohan while she was in rehab.

On Thursday, Sautner noted that Lohan had completed only 33 community service hours of the 480 she must finish under her May conviction and sentence. The judge warned her to finish it in a year, regardless of any movies she is committed to making.

Lohan was sentenced by Sautner in May to 120 days in jail and three years’ probation with 360 hours of community service at a downtown women’s center and 120 hours at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

“I’m not going to give her five minutes extra. I don’t want to hear, ‘Oh I couldn’t do it because I was on the set of the John Gotti movie,’ ” Sautner warned Lohan, referring to a movie in which the actress is reportedly scheduled to appear.

During the progress report session, Sautner also warned Lohan that she had 21 days to get individual counseling or a hearing would be scheduled to revoke her probation.

Lohan’s attorney, Shawn Holley, told the judge that the actress cannot participate in group counseling because others might sell the private information discussed. Holley said Lohan had been enrolled in counseling at UCLA but had to end it because of “financial issues” connected to her actor’s insurance coverage.

Melanie Chavira, a prosecutor with the Los Angeles city attorney’s office who is overseeing Lohan’s necklace theft case, questioned whether the actress really could not afford to pay.

Sautner, who is overseeing Lohan’s probation for shoplifting a necklace and a 2007 driving-under-the-influence conviction, said she understood union insurance may lapse if actors do not work regularly, but she said that was no excuse.

“Maybe she knows somebody who can help out,” Sautner said.

Meantime, former Betty Ford Center technician Dawn Bradley has sued Lohan for allegedly injuring her wrist when she tried to administer an alcohol test on the actress after she missed a curfew.

A Riverside County sheriff’s deputies’ investigation found the incident was a probation violation, but Riverside County prosecutors declined to press charges. Lohan has denied any wrongdoing in the incident.

richard.winton@latimes.com