It looks like Lenny Dykstra will be spending some time behind bars.
The former major league All-Star was sentenced to three years in a California State Prison on Monday after pleading no contest to grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement.
Dykstra, who spent 12 big league seasons split between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, had asked the judge if he could change his "no contest" plea — which he originally filed back in October — to a "not guilty" plea in order to fight the charges in his case. However, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ulfig refused to let him do so.
Dykstra had pleaded no contest to grand theft auto and filing a false financial statement in connection with a scheme to use somebody else's paperwork to steal or lease several new cars.
The 49-year-old ex-baseball player said he has tried to make amends for his past transgressions, according to the Los Angeles Times, and said he would be cleared of any wrongdoing had his motion to withdraw his plea been granted.
Ulfig thought Dykstra received ample due process, though, and that he had plenty of opportunity to prove he was innocent.
"He obviously didn't have the money to get the vehicles," Ulfig said. "His conduct was indeed criminal."
Dykstra had faced up to a four-year sentence.
