Lohan checks in to Betty Ford, rehires previous lawyer

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RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif., May 3 (UPI) -- Actress Lindsay Lohan checked into California's Betty Ford Center for rehab and rehired a lawyer who kept her out of jail, several news outlets said Friday.

Her late-night Thursday check-in to the Betty Ford facility near Palm Springs, 110 miles southeast of Los Angeles, followed a day of drama that had prosecutors on the verge of asking for an arrest warrant if she did not begin a 90-day sentence in a reckless driving case by midnight.

"Ms. Lohan fulfilled her obligation to enroll in a rehab facility on May 2nd, so this office will not be seeking an arrest warrant from the court today," Santa Monica Chief Deputy City Attorney Terry White told the New York Daily News Friday.

The troubled actress had been reported fleeing to Los Angeles International Airport to fly to New York instead of checking into a court-mandated rehab center.

Her father, convicted inside-trader and domestic-violence suspect Michael Lohan, convinced her to go to rehab, he told the News.

"I stopped her from getting on and told her she'd be arrested in New York," he said.

The "Mean Girls" star was under court order to begin 90 days of rehabilitation to settle charges she lied to police after crashing her Porsche into a truck on California's Pacific Coast Highway last summer.

She'd told police she wasn't driving.

Lohan pleaded no contest to the charges in March and agreed to enter rehab, spend 18 months in psychotherapy and serve 30 days of community service.

Michael Lohan, told the New York Post his 26-year-old daughter sent a text message to him Thursday night confirming she was in rehab but saying she'd rather be on a resort island.

"Yes, daddy I'm OK, just annoyed by this happening," the elder Lohan said her daughter's message said. "I really want to go to treatment and, of course, something has to go wrong ... I want to go to Hawaii or Antigua."

Michael Lohan made the deal with White late Thursday to let his daughter go to Betty Ford, celebrity news website TMZ said.

Lohan fired her lawyer Mark Heller and re-hired attorney Shawn Holley to handle her case, TMZ and the Times said. Holley represented Lohan for several years and kept the actress out of jail for a jewelry theft.