Richie Sambora has plea bargained his way out of his DUI case, pleading no contest to driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher.

The driving under the influence charges were dismissed, and prosecutors did not file child endangerment charges against the Bon Jovi guitarist.

Sambora was popped for DUI last month while his 10-year-old daughter Ava was in the car. Sambora had a .13 blood alcohol level.

Although the brass at the Laguna Beach Police Department recommended that prosecutors file child endangerment charges, the rank and file cops who busted Sambora felt the evidence didn’t support that. Prosecutors agreed.

Richie Sambora’s contribution to our celebrity mug shot gallery.

Sambora had one of the most effective criminal defense lawyers on his side - Blair Berk, who has repped many celebs like Mel Gibson to Lindsay Lohan.

The stars also aligned in his favor: prosecutor Dennis Conway is considered pretty fair and therefore didn’t file child endangerment just to get some PR.

Furthermore, judge Craig Robison didn’t do the whole “I’m so frickin’ tough with celebrities” act we’ve seen others pull (the Paris Hilton case comes to mind).

Richie Sambora will pay a $390 fine plus penalties - total damage around $1,600. He’ll be placed on three years’ probation and must attend an alcohol education course. He cannot drink or do drugs during his probation.

After being popped for drunk driving this week in Laguna Beach, it looks as if Richie Sambora could be criminally charged with child endangerment as well.

The Bon Jovi guitarist was arrested for DUI with his 10-year-old daughter Ava in the car, along with another juvenile and another adult - a woman.

This doesn’t bode well for the 48-year-old rocker.

If Sambora is proven to have been drunk at the time he was pulled over (11 p.m. Tuesday), he could be charged with endangering the kids.

Police sources say Richie Sambora has not been charged with endangerment but the Laguna Beach P.D. is “actively investigating” the case.

Richie Sambora and family in happier times.

On another note, police sources report that, after Sambora was busted, the cops called Heather Locklear, Ava’s mother and Richie’s former wife.

Heather authorized the woman in the car to drive her daughter home.

Check out Richie Sambora and the esteemed company he now keeps in The Hollywood Gossip’s gallery of celebrity mug shots.

Officially joining the illustrious celebrity mug shot club last night, Richie Sambora was arrested for DUI in Laguna Beach, Calif. Nice work man!

Law enforcement sources say the 48-year-old Bon Jovi guitarist was pulled over by the Laguna Beach police just before 11:00 p.m. last night.

Cops observed him driving erratically in a black Hummer and pulled him over. He failed numerous field sobriety tests and was arrested for DUI.

At the station Richie Sambora opted to take a blood test rather than blow into a breathalyzer. Laguna Beach PD say there’s no indication of drugs.

Richie Sambora was released around 4:00 a.m. this morning.

There was a female passenger in the car at the time of the arrest, but, TMZ reports this afternoon that “she’s not a celebrity.” Rumors, currently unconfirmed, have indicated that the female in question may be Sambora’s daughter, Ava, 10.

In 2007, Richie had not one, but two stints in rehab.

Gosh. And here we thought we knew Richie. What would Lauren Conrad think of Heather Locklear’s ex driving like a madman through her hometown? Just be glad Sambora didn’t go all Mel Gibson on any law enforcement peeps afterwards …

We hope he says hi to Lindsay Lohan while he’s there:

Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora entered an undisclosed treatment facility on Wednesday, a rep for the band told People magazine.

“Richie Sambora has entered an undisclosed treatment facility in Los Angeles,” the rep said in a statement. “He asks that you respect he and his family’s privacy at this time.”

The specific nature of Sambora’s problem was not disclosed, but the musician hasn’t had the easiest year in the world.

He and actress Denise Richards broke up several months ago after dating for about a year. In April, the rocker’s divorce from Heather Locklear was finalized. And that same month, his father died of lung cancer.

“Richie has had a terrible year,” a close friend said, although Isaiah Washington may now have had it worse.  “I think this was a culmination of all these things and finally he realized he needed to take care of himself. He’d put off everything for so long taking care of everyone else it was just time to stop and deal with his issues.”

It is not clear how Sambora’s treatment will affect his role in Bon Jovi. The band’s new album, Lost Highway, is due out June 19.

The band is also set to appear on an upcoming episode of MTV’s Unplugged, which was taped in New York on Tuesday. For now, though, Richie joins Lohan and other celebs such as Jesse Metcalfe as being unplugged from alcohol for awhile.

(Clank!)

Some celebrity gossip you just never see coming.

Like Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock calling it quits.

Or Spencer Pratt coming up with some new PR scheme.

Similarly, Denise Richards and Richie Sambora have broken up, her rep says, and unlike in the case of her pal Pamela, it didn’t take an appearance by Borat to kill the relationship.

Although they were no longer a couple at the time, last month they attended the funeral for Richie Sambora’s father, who died of lung cancer on April 21 in his native New Jersey.

“Denise ended things but wanted to be there for him as a friend,” a source close to Richards tells People.

A Sambora source calls the split “amicable.”

“They did break up about a month prior to Richie’s dad’s death,” says the source. “She came to the funeral to support him. He needs to focus on his daughter, Ava, and wishes Denise and her kids all the best.”

Richards’ mother has kidney cancer, and she told People in February she and the Bon Jovi guitarist were important in helping each other cope with their parents’ illnesses.

Richards, 36, and Sambora, 47, began dating in April 2006 after splitting from their respective spouses.

Richards’ four-year marriage to Charlie Sheen officially ended in November when she got pissed about his addictions to drugs and prostitutes.

Sambora and Heather Locklear finalized their own divorce in April. Since then, the former Melrose Place star has been linked to David Spade and Johnathan Schaech, whoever that is.