Free Republic

TROY, Mich. (AP) -- A woman accused of having a paid sexual tryst with the husband of Michigan U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow has been sentenced to probation on a lesser charge. Alycia Martin was sentenced Tuesday to six months’ probation. The 21-year-old’s record will be expunged if she successfully completes her sentence. Prosecutors dropped a prostitution charge against the Westland woman in June. She pleaded guilty to trespassing. Investigators conducting surveillance Feb. 26 at a Troy hotel stopped then-46-year-old Thomas Athans. They say Stabenow’s husband acknowledged meeting Martin through the Internet and paying her $150 for sex. Authorities didn’t charge...

Recently a T-Shirt was put up for sale on the internet. It purports to be directed at Thomas Athans (since no one would even know who Alycia Martin is otherwise) however, Thomas Athans is not mentioned, depicted in picture, or otherwise referenced, on the shirt. This is because Thomas Athans was never charged with any crime stemming from the events of February 26, 2008. This remarkable lack of prosecution and fodder for the media (and this T-Shirt company) is a direct result of the "special treatment" afforded Thomas Athans. There simply is no "mug shot" of Thomas Athans to use....

TROY, Mich. -- The husband of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow told police he used the Internet to make a date with a prostitute and paid her $150 for sex at a hotel, according to a police report.