Max/X17online.comLindsay Lohan is officially in rehab —but prosecutors say it's not one they approve, prompting questions over whether she's truly adhering to the terms of her plea deal.
Appearing on her behalf Thursday morning at a hearing in Los Angeles, the Liz & Dick's star's lawyer Mark Heller announced that Lohan has entered Morningside Recovery, a live-in treatment center in Newport Beach, Calif.—contrary to reports that she didn't make her flight from New York last night.
However, neither Santa Monica City Attorney Terry White nor Judge James Dabney were very happy because Morningside was not a locked facility both parties agreed to, nor was it one prosecutors conducted due diligence on.
"I thought the agreement was the parties were going to get together because this facility was going to be in NY," Dabney commented.
White told the court that on April 9 a facility in New York had been chosen after his office gave its stamp of approval and spoke to the executive director with the requirements prosecutors needed.
"We thought that was the facility we were going to use," White replied. "Now I start hearing that she is going to another facility."
The judge then questioned Heller as to how Lohan ended up at Morningside, to which the lawyer answered that he began looking at other options after a confidential email he sent to the City Attorney had allegedly been leaked to the media.
"The facilities do not want to have paparazzi…so I explored another facility that had not been disclosed, spoke to director of that facility," said Heller.
He added that Lindsay is "ensconced in the bosom of that facility right now. She is already there. She is already accepted."
When asked by Dabney however whether Morningside falls "within the parameters," White replied, "this is very inappropriate. We did not approve this facility. I do not know anything about this facility and he shows up five minutes before this hearing and shows me a letter."
The judge ended the hearing saying Lindsay can remain enrolled in Morningside, but that prosecutors are entitled to conduct due diligence on the new treatment center.
He also set the next court date for May 10 for the City Attorney to investigate whether the program complies with his office. If White decides it doesn't, then a hearing has been tentatively scheduled for May 13.
Speaking to E! News after the hearing, White said that if his office finds Morningside doesn't meet the requirements, he'll ask the court to have her start her rehab all over again somewhere else.
"It was 90 days in an approved program," said the prosecutor. "We would want her to start again."
White also added that he felt "completely blindsided" by Heller's actions, noting that he didn't get proof Lindsay was at the new facility until right before the hearing which was very "unprofessional."
He also pointed to three newspaper articles that reported that Morningside has received bad marks, including one story that noted it's been suspended by the state and another that called it "rouge rehab."
Heller was not available for comment.