In plea deal, Lindsay Lohan gets 90 days in rehab facility

Lindsay Lohan avoided jail again when she pleaded no contest Monday to misdemeanor charges related to a June 2012 car crash in a last-minute deal that will send her to 90 days in a locked rehabilitation facility.

The “Mean Girls” star must also spend 18 months in therapy and serve 30 days of community service as part of the agreement, in which she pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless driving and providing false information to police. A charge of willfully resisting, obstructing or delaying an officer was dismissed.

In pleading no contest to the charges, Lohan admitted she had violated her probation in a 2011 shoplifting case, and L.A. County Superior Court Judge James Dabney sentenced her to 180 days in jail. But that sentence was stayed. The judge said that if Lohan met the terms of this deal, she wouldn’t serve additional time behind bars.

But he warned that there wouldn’t be any discussion about probation if she violated the agreement, implying that she would be sent to jail. Dabney made one final suggestion to the actress before she left the courtroom: “Don’t drive.”

Lohan was also ordered to pay restitution to the driver of the truck that Santa Monica prosecutors say she hit June 18 while on her way to the set of the cable TV movie “Liz & Dick.” Prosecutors say Lohan told officers she wasn’t driving the Porsche. She also was ordered to serve five days in jail as required by law for reckless driving, but prosecutors said that time would be served during her locked rehab sentence.

Prosecutors had for weeks offered her 90 days in jail or locked rehab, but Lohan did not agree to the terms until Monday morning.

“I am pleased with the outcome,” said Santa Monica’s Chief Deputy City Atty. Terry White. “We got what we offered.”

Mark Heller, the New York attorney representing Lohan, said his client was “extremely gratified with the end result.”

“I’m very confident that you won’t be seeing Lindsay Lohan in any criminal courts any time in the future,” Heller said outside the courthouse. “She has fully recognized all of the issues that have to be addressed, and I’m very confident she’ll be able to move forward in her life with dignity, pride and respect.”

The 11th-hour deal didn’t come without some drama.

Lohan made a last-minute dash from New York to enter the plea, apparently catching an overnight flight on a private jet, according to her Twitter account.

“Thanks Mr. Pink for the private jet see you all in a few hours in LA,” she tweeted early Monday.

But the flight was delayed and landed at Los Angeles International Airport about 8:30 a.m., according to media reports. Lohan arrived at the courthouse nearly 50 minutes late. A woman threw gold glitter on the actress as she made her way past the media swarmed outside. L.A. County sheriff’s officials said they would investigate the incident.

Monday’s court appearance was the most recent for Lohan, who has been on probation for various drunk-driving and shoplifting charges since 2007 and accumulated what the judge described as a voluminous court file.

Until last month, Lohan was represented by Shawn Holley, one of Southern California’s top lawyers. Heller, her new attorney, had previously been reprimanded by Dabney, who has questioned the attorney’s ability to adequately defend the actress in California, given that Heller did not seem familiar with the state’s criminal justice system.

Last week, Lohan’s father, Michael Lohan, retained an Orange County criminal law firm to assist in his daughter’s defense if needed, saying that she was “not at all comfortable with the poor representation she is getting” and that her “freedom and future are at stake.”

Michael Lohan, outside the courthouse Monday, had to be stopped by a sheriff’s deputy from moving toward Heller and another attorney after an exchange of words about his daughter’s representation.

Heller was telling reporters, “I am thrilled with the result. Lindsay’s thrilled with the result,” when Michael Lohan, who was going to hold his own news conference, approached.

“I don’t know what he is still doing here,” Michael Lohan yelled repeatedly, complaining that Heller nearly got his daughter jailed.

California lawyer Anthony Falangetti, who was aiding Heller, replied to Michael Lohan: “He is her lawyer.”

richard.winton@latimes.com