More Trouble for Lindsay Lohan: Betty Ford Run-In May Lead to Battery Charge, Jail

Actress may be in more hot water as a potential battery charge could mean she violated her probation

Like all patients in recovery, Lindsay Lohan has good days and bad days. Chalk this up to the latter.

A spokeswoman for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department confirms to E! News that investigators believe the drama queen committed battery against a former Betty Ford employee last month.

So what happens now?

Authorities plan to refer their findings to the district attorney for prosecution and the matter could be sent to the Beverly Hills judge presiding over her 2007 DUI and drug case, who could send Lohan back to the slammer for violating her probation.

Just before Christmas, the Betty Ford staffer in question, Dawn Holland, said through her lawyer that she didn't want to press criminal charges against Lohan. However, Riverside P.D. continued probing the incident that began when the employee accused Lindsay of misdemeanor battery after the two got into a heated argument Dec. 12.

Holland was subsequently fired by the Rancho Mirage, Calif., rehab center after higher-ups learned she violated privacy laws by selling her story to TMZ .

The ex-chemical dependency technician claimed to have confronted Lohan when the actress and two other girls had returned after sneaking out of the sober-living facility after curfew and demanded the trainwreck-prone starlet take a drug or alcohol test. That's where their accounts diverge.

Holland accused Lohan of becoming belligerent, grabbing her wrist and injuring her hand when she tried to wrestle a phone away from her. But Lindsay's dad, Michael Lohan, told E! News that the staffer had reached for Lindsay's arm and Lohan had simply "brushed her off."

In any case, should Lohan be found to have violated her probation in her criminal case, she might be facing another 90 days behind bars or even longer.

Lohan's attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, seemed none too pleased that the police are sharing their collective opinion with the media.

"The important, yet limited, investigatory role of the police to gather facts and collect evidence is well-established," she said in a statement. "The fact that the Palm Desert Police Department went outside this limited role to issue a press statement expressing its opinion about what should happen in Ms. Lohan's case is highly unusual and deeply troubling."

(Originally published Jan. 4, 2011, at  9:27 a.m. PT)