Ex-Mets Star Lenny Dykstra Pleads No Contest To Auto Theft, Could Face 4-Year Sentence
SAN FERNANDO, Calif. (WFAN/AP) — Former Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra has changed his plea from not guilty to no contest on charges of auto theft and providing a false financial statement.
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Alex Karnanen says the 48-year-old faces up to four years in prison as part of a plea deal.
Dykstra and two co-defendants are accused of trying to lease and then sell high-end cars from several car dealerships in January by claiming credit through a phony business.
In exchange for changing his plea, prosecutors dropped more than a dozen charges against Dykstra, shortening the possible jail time he faces by eight years.
He had initially entered the not guilty plea in January.
"Of course I'm not guilty," Dykstra told the New York Daily News in June. "We leased cars. This isn't some grand scheme to defraud anyone of Ford Flexes."
Dykstra, who helped the Mets to the World Series title in 1986, spent 12 years in the big leagues.
He is scheduled to be sentenced next Jan. 20.
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