Lohan to Chanel: Help Me Glam SCRAM Bracelet

May 28, 2010— -- It looks like actress Lindsay Lohan isn't going to let a court-ordered alcohol-monitoring anklet spoil her sense of style.

Earlier this week, a California judge, as part of an earlier DUI case, ordered her to strap a SCRAM (or Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring) bracelet to her leg.

Last night, the starlet used Twitter to send out a plea to French fashion powerhouse Chanel.

"can CHANEL please help me out by getting me some stickers to put on my scram bracelet so that i can at least wear a chic dress?! maybe!? x," she tweeted.

But according to a spokeswoman for the Denver-based company that makes the bracelets, Alcohol Monitoring Systems Inc., glamming up her bracelet could be more than just a fashion faux pas.

"Offenders sign an agreement at install that they are financially responsible for any damage or losing the bracelet and/ or base station, and must pay for repairs up to replacement cost of $1500," spokeswoman Kathleen Brown told ABCNews.com in an e-mail.

Could Lohan Trick Alcohol-Monitoring Bracelet?

It wouldn't be a violation for the court unless the additions create an alert or interfere with the bracelet's ability to monitor her alcohol intake, she said.

Lohan's tweet comes after a report in US Weekly magazine that the actress, who previously wore the bracelet in 2007, tried using a paper clip to jam the signal and perfume (which is high in alcohol content) to confuse the sensor.

The magazine said Lohan denied attempting both tactics. But she wouldn't be the first to try to bypass the bracelet.

Similar to a Breathalyzer, the bracelet detects alcohol, but instead of checking a person's breath, it takes samples from perspiration on the skin.

Brown said that of the 135,000 people who have worn the bracelet since 2004, she's never heard of someone effectively tampering with the device and evading detection, which would be a violation of the agreement offenders sign when the SCRAM is attached to their ankle.

Offenders Use Ham, Baloney, Chicken Skin to Bluff Bracelet

But Vickers Cunningham, retired Texas District Court Judge and chief operating officer of Recovery Healthcare Corporation, a major SCRAM distributor, said that some offenders have attempted innovative strategies to bluff the booze detector.

Novices place cellophane or foil between the skin and the sensor.

"The more creative people have tried to simulate human skin by using baloney or salami or ham," he said. One even stuck chicken skin to his ankle.

But he said that the bracelets include several anti-tamper sensors.

It monitors temperature to make sure the bracelet stays attached to a human leg, it sounds an alarm if the strap is cut or stretched to the breaking point and has an infrared beam that measures the amount of light reflected by the skin.

The cellophane and foil trip the infrared alarm as they both reflect differently than skin. And he said those who use baloney, ham and other creative materials are caught because the bracelet can detect an obstruction and will alert authorities after eight hours of an obstruction.

He said tactics like Lohan's alleged perfume-spraying strategy are known as attempts at "spiking the bracelet."

Offenders are told not to use perfume and other topical alcohol-based products around their ankles because it sends the reported alcohol level through the roof and masks any alcoholic beverages the person might have consumed.

But Cunningham said probation officers can tell when offenders spike the bracelets with gasoline, perfume and other substances and can send them before a judge to explain why they contaminated the sample.