There's a bureaucratic bump on Jessica Sierra's cross-country road to recovery.
The erstwhile American Idol finalist, who was sentenced this week in Florida to a year at an in-house drug treatment center in California, learned Wednesday that it's going to take longer than the usual five or six hours to get out West.
While the Pasadena Recovery Center's door is already wide open, the California Department of Probation has rejected Sierra's emergency transfer and will instead consider a nonemergency transfer, which could take up to 45 days, according to Assistant Florida State Attorney Pam Bondi.
Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Daniel Perry on Thursday granted the troubled 22-year-old a 45-day travel pass that will give her time to get her case processed through the California system.
If the probation department doesn't allow Sierra to stay in the Golden State, she must return to Florida, Perry said, admonishing her for taking time out to pose for pictures with a fan yesterday.
"You are not a celebrity, you are a drug addict," the judge said. He subsequently ordered her to stay at least 100 yards away from cameras and microphones.
The reality-TV player was supposed to meet with her probation officer Wednesday morning, and then fly to California with her father out of Tampa International Airport. But rather than fly the friendly skies, Sierra had to gear up for another court appearance.
At least she was able to go to her family's house in Tampa to wait it out, instead of back to jail. Sierra told reporters gathered outside Falkenborg Road Jail Wednesday morning that she was excited to be out and on her way to rehab. (She also declined to discuss her pregnancy, which was confirmed earlier this week by her family.)
She had been in jail since Dec. 1, when she was arrested in Ybor City on charges of disorderly conduct and nonviolently resisting an officer, raising a few questions about VH1's upcoming reality series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which premieres Thursday featuring a pre-arrest Sierra as one of the celebs in need of help.
Her yearlong sentence also encompassed probation violation stemming from her arrest last April at a local nightclub, after which she was charged with cocaine possession and throwing a glass at a fellow patron.
Doctor and radio-TV host Drew Pinsky appeared in court on Sierra's behalf on Monday, advising Perry that Sierra needed "at least a year" to get her act together.
"My opinion is, after that year, her prognosis would be reasonably good," Pinsky said.
And although Pasadena Recovery Center, where Pinsky's show was taped, is willing to foot the bill for Sierra's treatment, which is expected to run somewhere in the six-figure department, Perry would prefer that Sierra start getting the help she needs further away from the Hollywood scene.
"I don't want this to be some sort of stepping stone for her to have some sort of a career as a recovering addict," the judge said Monday. "I don't want her giving interviews. I don't want her on TV. I don't want anybody glamorizing the fact that she's a drug addict. I'm over that."
But center cofounder Michael Bloom told the Tampa Tribune that they want Pinsky on board when Sierra finally makes it to Pasadena.
Bloom said that the celebrity doc doesn't normally treat in-house patients, because he has his own private practice, but, "in Jessica's case, we want him involved."
(Originally published Jan. 9, 2008 at 5:47 p.m. PT)