Dykstra charged with grand theft auto
Former Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra in a 2008 photo. Credit: AP, 2008
SAN FERNANDO, Calif. -- Former Mets and Philadelphia Phillies star Lenny Dykstra was jailed yesterday on grand theft auto and drug possession charges after being accused of using phony information to lease a car from a Southern California dealership.
Dykstra, 48, was charged with 25 misdemeanor and felony counts of grand theft auto, attempted grand theft auto, identity theft and other crimes, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. He faces up to 12 years in state prison if convicted.
Dykstra was taken into custody during a hearing in San Fernando Superior Court on the new charges. He was jailed on $500,000 bail with a bail-review hearing set for Friday.
His accountant and a friend were charged in connection with the alleged auto theft but not with drug crimes, Robison said.
Prosecutors contend that the three men tried to lease high-end cars from dealers this year by providing phony information and claiming credit through a phony business called Home Free Systems.
Two dealerships rejected the lease applications but a third allowed the men to drive off with three cars, according to a statement from the district attorney's office.
Police who arrested Dykstra on April 14 found cocaine, Ecstasy and the synthetic human growth hormone Somatropin at his San Fernando Valley home, the statement said.
Dykstra, who bought a Ventura County mansion once owned by hockey star Wayne Gretzky, filed for bankruptcy two years ago, claiming he owed more than $31 million and had only $50,000 in assets.
In May, he was charged with more than a dozen federal counts, including bankruptcy fraud.-- AP
