Former NY Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra sentenced to 3 years in Calif. prison
(CBS/AP) SAN FERNANDO, Calif. - Ex-New York Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra was sentenced on Monday to three years in a California state prison for his role in an auto theft scheme.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ulfig sentenced Dykstra after refusing to allow him to withdraw a no contest plea.
Ulfig said the scam to lease high-end automobiles from dealerships by providing fraudulent information and claiming credit through a phony business showed sophistication and extensive planning.
Dykstra initially pleaded not guilty to 25 counts after police arrested him and found cocaine, Ecstasy and synthetic human growth hormone at his Los Angeles home last April. He changed his plea in October to no contest and in exchange, prosecutors dropped 21 counts.
Dykstra's accountant, 27-year-old Robert Hymers, and friend, 30-year-old Christopher Gavanis, were also charged in the scheme. Hymers and Gavanis have entered no contest pleas as well and are awaiting sentencing.
Dykstra has earned nearly a year's worth of credit toward his sentence for time already served.
Dykstra still faces federal bankruptcy charges and is scheduled to stand trial this summer. He filed for bankruptcy a few years ago, claiming he owed more than $31 million and had only $50,000 in assets. Federal prosecutors said that after filing, Dykstra hid, sold or destroyed more than $400,000 worth of items from his $18.5 million mansion without permission of a bankruptcy trustee.
Dykstra, who spent his 12-year career with the Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, has also pleaded not guilty to indecent exposure charges for allegedly exposing himself to women he met on Craigslist.