LiLo eventually checks into rehab center

After skipping out on entering a Newport Beach rehabilitation facility and facing the prospect of arrest for violating her probation, Lindsay Lohan has checked into the Betty Ford Center to begin a 90-day court-mandated stay in her reckless driving conviction. Lohan also rehired her former attorney Shawn Holley, who represented her for several years, and the lawyer arranged for the “Mean Girls” star to enter the Rancho Mirage facility. The moves capped a chaotic 24 hours in which Lohan showed up Thursday at Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, only to promptly leave. At that point, prosecutors said they did not know where she was and threatened to obtain an arrest warrant if she did not return because she was in violation of her probation. But Santa Monica Chief Deputy City Atty. Terry White said Friday that he had given “tentative approval” to the actress to serve her court-mandated rehab at a facility other than the one in Newport Beach. White did not specify the facility, but sources told The Times that Lohan checked into the Betty Ford Center late Thursday. Lohan managed to rehire Holley to replace attorney Mark Heller, who came under repeated criticism for his handling of her case. White said Holley contacted him late Thursday with a new plan to treat Lohan. “I have given tentative approval, but a more intensive investigation will be undertaken to make sure it complies with all the probation condition requirements,” he said. Lohan was previously at Betty Ford from September 2010 to January 2011 after a probation violation in a prior drunk driving case. During that stay, an employee accused her of battery, but prosecutors declined to charge the actress. Her latest stay at Betty Ford comes after Lohan rear-ended a truck with her Porsche on Pacific Coast Highway on June 8, and then lied to police, telling them she was not driving. She entered a no contest plea in March and agreed to enter rehab, spend 18 months in psychotherapy and serve 30 days of community service. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Dabney warned that any slip-up would result in six months in jail for violating probation. In court Thursday morning, Lohan’s then-attorney, Heller, told the judge that his client had begun her therapy at the Morningside Recovery facility. Heller told the judge the facility met all the requirements. But state officials said the Newport Beach facility was not licensed to provide residential drug or alcohol treatment; it is certified to operate as an outpatient clinic with sober living homes. When Lohan arrived Thursday, she left within minutes and did not even check in to the facility.