LOS ANGELES — Actress Lindsay Lohan is under investigation for misdemeanor battery for allegedly attacking a female staffer at the Betty Ford Center, where a Beverly Hills judge ordered the actress to stay for violating probation.

Palm Desert officers are completing an investigation into the Dec. 12 incident and will turn it over to Riverside County prosecutors to decide whether the actress should face criminal charges.

The incident also could be determined to be a violation of the terms of her probation in her 2007 drunken driving arrest, which could send her back to jail again. Under the terms of her probation, the "Mean Girls" actress is required to obey all laws.

Palm Desert officers were called to the location at 1:03 a.m. PT for a disturbance at a Betty Ford clinic housing complex. A staffer claimed she had been battered by Lohan, said Sgt. Joseph Borja of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

"The victim desires prosecution," he said.

Because it was a misdemeanor offense and officers did not witness the crime, Lohan was not taken into custody.

Lohan checked into the Betty Ford clinic in Rancho Mirage in September, even before Beverly Hills Judge Elden S. Fox ordered her to remain there until Jan. 3 to undergo treatment for chemical dependency.

The judge turned down a request by the prosecutor that Lohan serve six months in jail for failing drug tests while on probation. But he sternly warned Lohan that if she violated probation again, he would sentence her to jail.

Lohan has twice been sentenced to jail time, but in both instances she got out early because of overcrowding in L.A. County's women's jail in Lynwood.

Earlier this year, another Beverly Hills judge sentenced Lohan to 90 days in custody, including 30 days in County Jail.

During the hearing, the actress who rose to fame in "Freaky Friday" and "The Parent Trap" was captured on camera with an expletive painted on her fingernail.

She served less than one-third of her jail sentence and was released from an in-patient drug rehabilitation center at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after 23 days.

Then in September, she admitted on Twitter that she had failed a drug test required by her probation.

When Fox learned of the failure, he ordered her held for 30 days in jail. But that same day, another judge overturned his ruling and Lohan was freed on bail and entered rehab.