Lindsay Lohan free after posting $75,000 bail hours after judge delivers 120-day in jail sentence

LOS ANGELES - Lindsay Lohan was sentenced to 120 days in jail Friday for violating her probation by waltzing out of a jewelry store with a necklace.

Within hours, the troubled starlet was set free after posting $75,000 bail, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

Lohan threw up her hands and looked plaintively at her lawyer as deputies led her away for her fourth visit to jail since 2007.

In addition to the jail time, the judge also ordered Lohan to perform 120 hours of community service at the county morgue and 360 hours at a women's center.

"Perhaps then she might see how truly needy women who have fallen on truly hard times have to live," Judge Stephanie Sautner said.

Her ruling came at the end of a daylong hearing in which she heard evidence about Lohan's alleged January jewel theft.

While Sautner reduced the theft charge to a misdemeanor, she found that Lohan had violated her probation on 2007 back-to-back DUIs.

She gave the "Mean Girls" star a tongue-lashing, saying she couldn't decide if she was stupid or brazen for leaving Kamofie & Co. jewelers with the $2,500 bauble and failing to return it.

"Would a person with brains put a necklace on and walk out? It happens every day. Brazenness? Stupidity? I don't know," the judge said.

"If, in fact, it was an accident, she had the phone number of the store and could have called them back," Sautner added.

"I see intent here and a level of brazenness with 'Let me see what I can get away with,'" the judge continued.

Shawn Holley had argued that LiLo wasn't a thief - she was just spoiled.

"A reasonable interpretation of the evidence is that Miss Lohan did not rush to return the necklace. There's no question about that," the lawyer said.

"And I contend that makes her not a very considerate or courteous person. Perhaps you or I, upon noticing we had the necklace, would rush to return it," Holley said.

"The fact that she may not have been a courteous person ... does not make her a thief, it doesn't make her a criminal, it doesn't make her someone with intent to permanently deprive the shop owner."

The judge was not buying it.

"We all have busy lifestyles," she said. "She wasn't running to catch a flight."

Lohan, who had turned down several plea offers, faces a June 3 trial on the necklace theft charge. She could get up to a year in prison if she's convicted.

The Long Island-raised star has been trying to mount a comeback while confronting her legal problems. This week, she was cast as the wife of John (Junior) Gotti in a movie about the mob scion.