Former New York Mets great Lenny Dykstra was sentenced Monday to three years in prison after pleading no contest to grand theft auto . Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ulfig denied Dykstra 's motion to withdraw his plea . He pleaded no contest in October to three counts of grand theft auto and filing a false financial statement . Beginning in January 2011 , Dykstra and two co-defendants tried to lease various high-end automobiles from several area dealerships by providing fraudulent information and claiming credit through a phony business , prosecutors said . A criminal complaint contended that Dykstra and Robert Hymers , 27 , his accountant , provided information from a man they claimed was a co-signer , but who had not authorized his name to be used . Leases were not approved at two dealerships , but the pair and Christopher Gavanis , 30 , a friend of Dykstra 's , drove off with three cars at one company by providing fraudulent information to a dealer , said Deputy District Attorney Alex Karkanen . Those cars have since been returned , he said . When Dykstra was arrested in April , Los Angeles police detectives allegedly found cocaine and ecstasy along with somatropin , a synthetic human growth hormone , when they searched his Encino home . In exchange for his plea , prosecutors agreed to drop 21 charges against him , including attempted grand theft auto , identity theft , possession of a controlled substance and unauthorized possession of a syringe . In a separate case , Dykstra was indicted in May on federal charges , including obstruction of justice for allegedly taking more than $ 400,000 in property that should have gone to his bankruptcy creditors and then lying about it under oath , prosecutors claim . Dykstra , 49 , is a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star who led the New York Mets to a World Series championship . His stellar professional baseball career began in 1981 , when the New York Mets drafted him out of high school . During his second year in the majors , the player nicknamed `` Nails '' for his tenacity hit a lead-off home run in Game 3 of the 1986 World Series at Boston 's Fenway Park after the Mets lost the first two games . That spark rallied the Mets to a seven-game series victory over the Boston Red Sox .
John Dykstra faces federal charges in a separate case . He pleaded no contest to grand theft auto and filed a false financial statement in October . Notes : Dykstra , ex - defendants fraudulently drove off with cars from dealership .