Fresh from France, Lindsay Lohan comes home to legal woes

Fresh from France, Lohan comes home to legal woes

LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Lohan is coming home to a litany of legal woes after a few breezy days at the Cannes Film Festival, where she attended various events to promote her Linda Lovelace film and partied into the wee hours on the day she was supposed to be in court in Beverly Hills.

The 23-year-old actress was to be arrested upon her return to Los Angeles for missing a mandatory court hearing, but a judge recalled the warrant late Thursday after Lohan posted bail.

Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel set bail at $100,000, revoked Lohan’s probation and imposed strict new conditions on the star, who was due in court for a progress report on her probation stemming from two arrests in 2007.

The judge ordered that Lohan be prohibited from drinking any alcohol, required to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet and submit to random weekly drug testing.

“If she wanted to be here, it looks to the court that she could have been here,” Revel said, frustrated at Lohan’s absence.

The actress, wearing short shorts and high heels, was partying on a yacht in the French Riviera until early Thursday morning, says celebrity photographer Phil Ramey, who posted the photos on his website tinselclown.com.

Lohan’s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, said Lohan’s passport was stolen while in Cannes and she was unable to return to Los Angeles in time for Thursday’s hearing.

“She did, in fact, have airline tickets,” Holley told the judge. She said Lohan would be back in the United States by Friday evening.

Lohan has been on probation since August 2007 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor drug charges and no contest to three driving charges. The plea came after a pair of high-profile arrests earlier that year.

Despite spending 84 minutes in jail and performing mandatory service at the county morgue, Lohan has struggled repeatedly with the terms of her sentence. In October, a judge extended her probation for another year but a prosecutor warned the actress she faced jail time if she violated her probation.

The extension was the third time Lohan escaped punishment after her alcohol-education program notified the court the actress had violated its rules. Two of the instances were described as misunderstandings; the third was chalked up to a busy work schedule.

Revel said Thursday there is probable cause to believe Lohan may have violated her probation. A formal hearing will be held to determine if Lohan is in compliance with the court’s conditions. No date has been set.

In a video posted online on the celebrity website Hollywood.TV Monday, Lohan says she’s “been in compliance more than ever” with the terms of her probation and could complete the required alcohol-education classes in “about two and a half weeks.”

Speaking to the media after the hearing, Holley said that Lohan has completed 10 of the 13 required alcohol-education classes. She said the actress went to Cannes to promote a film, adding, “It’s her job.”