LOS ANGELES, March 5 (UPI) -- Former major league all-star Lenny Dykstra was sentenced in Los Angeles Monday to three years in state prison for trying to defraud car dealers.
Dykstra, who hit .285 for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies from 1985 to 1996, was sentenced after a judge refused to let him pull back his no-contest plea to grand theft auto and filing a false financial statement, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, reported.
Prosecutors said Dykstra, 49, and two co-defendants tried to lease luxury cars from area dealerships by providing fraudulent credit information.
Co-defendant Robert Hymers, Dykstra's 27-year-old accountant, pleaded no contest to one felony count of identity theft. The third defendant, Christopher Gavanis, pleaded no contest to one felony count of filing a false financial statement.
While the Web site baseball-reference.com said he earned $36.5 million as a player, court records show that by July 2009, he was in bankruptcy owing $21 million in loans.
