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Crime & Safety

Judge OKs Lindsay Lohan's Rehab at Betty Ford Center

The approval is subject to the review of the Santa Monica city attorney's office.

The latest Los Angeles judge to deal with Lindsay Lohan preliminarily approved her 90-day stay at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage Monday, subject to the approval of the Santa Monica city attorney's office.

Superior Court Judge James R. Dabney signed off on Lohan's change of lawyers. She dismissed New York-based attorney Mark Heller and rehired Shawn Holley, who represented Lohan earlier and helped get her into the treatment center. Lohan, 26, had a tumultuous stay at Betty Ford in 2010.

On Thursday morning, Heller told the judge the 26-year-old actress was "ensconced in the bosom'' of a Newport Beach treatment center.

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But Lohan, who had flown overnight from New York after making a last- minute decision to enroll in a Newport Beach treatment center instead of the already-approved one on Long Island, dallied at a Fry's electronics before eventually showing up at the treatment center only to leave moments later.

TMZ.com reported that Holley negotiated a deal with Santa Monica City Attorney Terry White for him to accept the Betty Ford Center as an alternative that would fit the plea bargain Lohan struck in a June 2012 car wreck on Pacific Coast Highway. 

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At a court hearing set for Friday, prosecutors could object to the Betty Ford Center if they have a problem with it. Lohan, who says she's given up alcohol, has been in legal trouble since a 2007 drunken driving car wreck on Sunset Boulevard. She has been in several addiction treatment centers.

Lohan was sentenced to a 90-day in-patient stay for allegedly lying to Santa Monica police, telling them her assistant was a Porsche that rear-ended a dump truck. Lohan planned to do her sentence at Seafield Center on Long Island, but she reportedly changed her mind when she learned she would not be allowed to smoke cigarettes.

Parts of Lohan's interview with Piers Morgan -- taped last month but yet to air -- became available online this weekend.

The Daily Mail reported that the actress said she is not an alcoholic and has no problem giving up alcohol. She's taken cocaine "maybe four or five times in my life,'' prefers ecstasy to other drugs and doesn't understand why she should be in a rehab facility for three months, according to the British tabloid.

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