Sunday, May 1, 2011

Lohan to plead no contest to misdemeanor theft charge

Lindsay Lohan could be headed back to prison for a few weeks.

Stephen Lovekin/Getty

Lindsay Lohan could be headed back to prison for a few weeks.

The credits may soon roll for troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan's legal drama.

The "Mean Girls" star is expected to plead no contest�next week to the misdemeanor theft charge of a $2,500 necklace, according to a source close to the actress.

Lohan, who is currently free on bail after being sentenced to four months in jail, wants to put the fiasco behind her and make good on her promise to rebuild her tarnished career, the source said.

"I've made a lot of poor decisions in the past and I'm dealing with the consequences of those decisions," she told Jay Leno�in an appearance on his show last week. "I feel like as long as I stay focused, then I will be able to achieve what I want to achieve."

It was not clear when Lohan plans to enter the plea. A pretrial hearing is slated for May 11, but the Long Island-born actress wants to resolve the case before then, the source said.

By pleading no contest, Lohan would not be admitting guilt.

It's likely she will only serve a small fraction of her four-month sentence on the probation violation - maybe as little as three weeks due to jail overcrowding.

And she's planning to hit the silver screen as soon as she steps out of the clink.

She recently inked a two-picture deal to appear in a pair of mob films, one a biopic on the notorious Gotti family. She will play the wife of John Gotti Jr. in the flick "Gotti: Three Generations" that also stars John Travolta and Joe Pesci.

In February, prosecutors charged Lohan with felony grand theft for swiping the necklace from Kamofie & Co., a jewelry store near her Venice home. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor just over a week ago.

Authorities said Lohan filched the bauble just three weeks after she was released from a court-ordered rehab at the Betty Ford Center.

The 24-year-old was sentenced just over a week ago to 120 days in jail and 480 hours of community service - 360 hours of work at a homeless shelter and 120 hours of janitorial work at the Los Angeles County morgue.

Judge Stephanie Sautner ordered the sentence, saying the "Freaky Friday" star violated her DUI probation by taking the bling.

But Lohan's lawyer, Shawn Holley, immediately appealed the jail stint and the star was freed on bond after just a few hours behind bars.

A spokesman for the "Gotti" movie told the Daily News last week that producers are standing by the embattled star.

"I'm a fighter, and I know I have to work to gain the respect back," Lohan told Leno.

"I'm willing to do the work that I have to do to follow through with being an actress . . . and that's what I love to do."

With News Wire Services

jkemp@nydailynews.com

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