娱乐英语新闻:U.S. actress Lindsay Lohan pleads no contest to misdemeanor theft charge

LOS ANGELES, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Troubled U.S. actress Lindsay Lohan pleaded no contest on Wednesday morning to a misdemeanor grand theft charge for stealing a valuable necklace from a Southern California jewelry store, local media outlets reported.

The "Mean Girls" star, who did not appear in court for the hearing -- her first absence in recent court sessions, entered the plea through her attorney Shawn Holley. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner ordered Lohan to complete the 120 days in jail and 480 hours of community service she had already been sentenced to.

The session held at the LAX Airport Courthouse has effectively put an end to a months-long legal wrangling over the case where Lindsay was accused of shoplifting a 2,500-dollar necklace from a Venice jeweler.

Lindsay Lohan arrives for a hearing at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles April 22, 2011

Lohan, 24, is expected to serve her time in home detention which is slated to start on or before June 17, when the starlet is supposed to surrender to jail officials.

It is not clear how long Lohan will serve, although it is expected that she is entitled to early release under a special program.

The jewelry store owner, Sofia Kaman, testified last month that she realized about 10 minutes after Lohan left the store on Jan. 22 the necklace was missing. Lohan did not pay for the jewelry, there was no agreement for her to pay for it later and she was never given permission to remove it from the store, according to Kaman.

Lohan denied the charge, saying that "I would never steal, in case people are wondering."

"I was not raised to lie, cheat or steal," she said in a twitter posting a day after she was charged.

The actress is also ordered to receive psychological counseling and complete a "shoplifters alternative" course. In addition, she was ordered to stay at least 100 feet (30 meters) away from the Venice jewelry store, Kamofie & Co.

Judge Sautner reduced the felony grand theft charge, stemming from Lohan's violation of 2007 drunk driving probation, to a misdemeanor on April 22, but she ruled that Lohan had violated her probation in a 2007 misdemeanor DUI case and sentenced her to the 120 days in jail and 480 hours of community service for the probation violation.

The troubled actress' brush with the law dated back to a pair of DUI arrests in May 2007 and July 2007.

The former Disney darling rose to fame between 2003 and 2005 when she appeared in title roles in the films of "Freaky Friday," "Mean Girls" and "Herbie: Fully Loaded." Her career was interrupted in 2007 when she was involved in two drunk driving incidents and three visits to rehabilitation facilities.

Lohan spent 13 days in a Los Angeles County jail last summer for violating her probation in the DUI case by missing multiple classes in a court-ordered alcohol education program.