Film producer raises specter of LAPD 'foul play' in Lindsay Lohan jewelry theft case, says report

(CBS) NEW YORK - Film producer Nathan Folks, who has recently cast actress Lindsay Lohan in his upcoming movie "Escaping the Game," is hinting at "foul play" by the Los Angeles Police Department in the troubled starlet's necklace entanglement, and says his self-made legal team will keep her on set and off the prison yard, according to an online report.

 Folks has enlisted the help of actor-producer Keith Middlebrook, to create a legal team that is "second to none," according to celebrity news site Radar Online.

"Usonian Entertainment hired Keith to make sure that everything was done correctly to keep Lindsay out of jail," Folks told Radar. "If it ends up that she gets any jail time it will be because there is foul play on the part of the West Coast Division of the LAPD and of the jewelry store."

The "Mean Girls" star was charged with felony grand theft after jewelry store Kamofie & Co. reported that she stole a $2,500 necklace.

Despite Folks' apparent confidence, a source involved in Lohan's actual legal team, led by Shawn Holley, insisted Middlebrook "seemed to offer nothing" to her defense, reports the gossip site.

Since 2007, Lohan's court troubles have overshadowed her career.

In the past 10 months, Lohan has been jailed twice and sent to rehab twice for probation violations. A judge ordered her to undergo three months of treatment at the Betty Ford Center, and it was within three weeks of her release that she was accused of stealing the necklace.

She is expected to appear in court again March 25 for a hearing where she can either plead guilty or no contest to the felony grand theft charges.

If convicted, Lohan could face up to 3 years in state prison.

Click here for complete coverage of Lindsay Lohan on Crimesider.