Lindsay Lohan smiles outside her community service in Los Angeles. (Splash)
Lindsay Lohan has been ordered to appear in person at a progress court hearing in Los Angeles on Wednesday, where Judge Stephanie Sautner will decide if Lohan has violated her probation following reports that she has failed to comply with the requirements of her court-mandated community service program.
According to TMZ, Lohan was a no-show nine times at her designated location – the Downtown Women’s Center – and did not comply with the order to spend a minimum of four hours at a time on the occasions she did appear at the center, resulting in her being expelled and transferred to the American Red Cross.
Reports indicate that Lohan has only completed a mere 21 hours of the required 360 hours at the skid row center. The “Mean Girls” star has also yet to appear at the Los Angeles County coroner's office, where she has 120 hours of volunteer janitorial work to complete before April.
If found to be in violation of her probation, Lohan faces a year-and-a-half behind bars, but experts say she probably won't spend anywhere close to that time in jail.
“While the judge will no doubt want to make an example out of Lindsay, giving her up to 18 months in jail for repeatedly gaming, challenging and outright ignoring the dictates of her probation, the reality is that there simply is no room in L.A. county jails for a low-level offender like Ms. Lohan,” California Criminal Defense Attorney David Wohl told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “Not only are local jails crowded with inmates awaiting trial, as of October 1st, California authorities began releasing tens of thousands of inmates from our overcrowded state prisons to our local jails to finish serving their sentences.”
Of course Lohan may not be found in violation of anything. The actress was ordered in May to have a combined 480 hours of service under wraps by April 2012 in connection with her conviction for stealing a necklace from a Venice jeweler earlier this year, and its only October 2011.
“Lindsay had approval from her parole officer to go overseas, so she didn’t do anything wrong here,” said a source close to the situation. “The real problem seems to be between Lindsay and her parole officer. If there is this much miscommunication between them and the courts, it is clear there is a problem, and I expect her legal counsel to seek a new officer as soon as possible. If Lindsay wasn’t turning up to community service, the issue should have been addressed before it came to this.”
A rep for Lohan was unaware of potential changes to her probation officer, but confirmed she had indeed changed community service programs.
“Lindsay is performing community service at the Red Cross and has been there every day for the past week," said the rep. "It has not been determined if there are any probation violations, so let's not put the cart before the horse."
Lohan’s lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley, and the District Attorney’s Office, did not respond to a request for comment.
However, Lohan’s apparent lack of commitment to fulfilling her obligations could be further indication she still doesn’t grasp the full implications of the judge’s orders. “She still doesn’t seem to take things seriously, and that’s the problem,” added our source. “Prior to the last hearing she wasn’t even ordered therapy, and she needs in-depth therapy, really good quality therapy, to help her.”
Amid all the hoopla and reports questioning her health and yellow, decaying teeth, Lohan has taken to Twitter to defend herself.
“I am not to be made an example of anymore. I am working hard and fulfilling my obligations every single day, to the court as well as myself,” she tweeted on Friday. “If I travel, [it’s] for work and [it has] been approved. As is anything I do when I leave the state. I’d appreciate it if people will just let me do what is asked of me, so that I can get my life back. “Please ignore the reports which have no truth to them. Thank you.”
Tweets aside, another source close to the troubled star said that this latest debacle shows that she is finally realizing that her rose-colored world is starting to be ruined by reality.
“Lindsay is definitely very stressed out with everything that’s going on,” said the insider. “I thought she could be helped, but I don’t think she can right now. One moment she’s a sweet girl, the next she just snaps on a whim.”
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