Lindsay Lohan pleads not guilty in necklace theft

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Actress Lindsay Lohan pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom to a felony grand theft charge related to a necklace allegedly taken from a California jewelry store last month.

Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz revoked Lohan's probation in a previous case. He issued a $20,000 bond for the theft charge and an additional $20,000 bond in the probation revocation.

Schwartz warned Lohan that she could be put back in jail if she violates the law.

"Please don't push your luck, I am telling you, the judge said. "Things will be different."

A February 23 hearing has been scheduled on the alleged probation violation.

The charge announced by prosecutors Wednesday comes five weeks after the actress was released from court-ordered drug rehabilitation and less than three weeks before a judge said he might free her from supervised probation from a 2007 drunken driving conviction.

Lohan was smiling at times as she sat at the defense table before the arraignment. She wore a tight-fitting white knot dress, with her long blond hair loosely tied in the back. Lohan wore what appeared to be several diamond bracelets on her right arm, complemented by diamond earrings and a large diamond-filled ring on her right hand.

The 24-year-old actress allegedly walked out of the Venice store with the necklace on January 22, a statement from the district attorney's office said. "The owner reported the theft to the Los Angeles Police Department, which investigated the allegation and presented evidence to the D.A.'s office last week."

The necklace was handed over to police just before they were to execute a search warrant to look for the jewelry in Lohan's Venice, California, apartment last week, police said.

Under California's grand theft law, the prosecutor must prove that Lohan intended to steal the jewelry and that she carried it away from the store.

The penalty for a felony grand theft conviction ranges from 16 months to three years in a California state prison, varying based on the value of the property stolen and the criminal record of the defendant.

Shoplifting offenses are charged as petty theft if the property taken is valued at less than $950. The store owner claims the "one of a kind" necklace was worth $2,500, police said.

The judge could reduce the charge to a misdemeanor, which would carry a prison sentence of no more than one year.

"We vehemently deny these allegations and, if charges are filed, we will fight them in court, not in the press," Holley said Saturday.

Lohan is on supervised probation for a drunken driving conviction. The judge overseeing her case told her in October that he would send her to jail for 180 days if she violated her probation rules before her next court appearance, set for February 25.

She left the Betty Ford clinic a month ago after three months in a drug rehabilitation program. The rehab stint persuaded the judge not to send Lohan to jail for failing a drug test.