Lindsay Lohan in Sheriff's Crosshairs, Calif. Investigators Ask Prosecutors to Press Charges
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) Lindsay Lohan may be free of the watchful eyes of her rehabilitation counselors, but the Riverside County Sheriff's Office isn't ready to let go just yet - they announced that they are asking prosecutors to charge LiLo with violating her probation while she was living la vida Betty Ford.
A two-week investigation shows the 24-year-old actress violated her probation during an altercation at the rehab clinic and details will be sent to the Los Angeles County Probation Department this week, sheriff's Sgt. Joe Borja said in a news release.
According to sheriff's investigators, Lohan returned to the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, about 120 miles east of Los Angeles, after curfew on Dec. 12, and refused rehab worker Dawn Holland's request to take a Breathalyzer test, according to investigators. Lohan is accused of pushing Holland, who then dialed police, as Lohan allegedly ripped the phone away and injured Holland's wrist.
Lohan's attorneys have fired back at the sheriff's department, condemning them for overstepping their bounds.
The alleged victim in the case, Holland, has reportedly asked that the case be dropped and is refusing to cooperate with the investigation, according to The Los Angeles Times, but that doesn't seem to have slowed the sheriff's office down.
"Regardless of whether the victim is cooperating, we believe there is a case here to press charges ... and the investigation determined Ms. Lohan violated several aspects of her probation," Sgt. David Florez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said, according to the paper. "Obviously, the battery is one violation. We aren't going to discuss the other violations at this point."
John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney's office, said his office expected to receive investigators' findings this week. If Lohan is prosecuted in Riverside County, the Los Angeles County Probation Department would be notified, he said.
The actress is due back in court Feb. 25 in Beverly Hills for a hearing at which Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden Fox is expected to address Lohan's probation and the Betty Ford altercation.