MISSOULA - A woman who blackmailed a prominent Bozeman builder will serve five years of probation, a U.S. District Court judge ruled Thursday.
Shannon Michelle Clark, 36, pleaded guilty on May 22 to charges that she demanded $60,000 from William Martel, founder of Martel Construction in Bozeman, to stay quiet about their four-year affair.

At the hearing, Clark apologized to Martel and his family.

But her attorney was not so resigned.

In a dramatic plea for leniency, defense attorney Morgan Modine charged that the FBI investigation that netted Clark began as a politically motivated drive by the Bush administration Justice Department to implicate prominent Democrats in a suspected Bozeman prostitution ring. It was only when that investigation floundered, Modine said, that the FBI went after Clark.

“This was an investigation into a prostitution ring,” he said. “It involved politicians and prominent businesspeople of Democratic persuasion.”

Modine also argued that FBI informants pushed his client to demand a “severance package” from Martel in June 2008.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office acknowledges that Clark’s transgression was discovered in the course of a sex-for-money investigation. Martel was questioned in the investigation, and ended his relationship with Clark shortly after that. When he did so, he told Clark to tell the FBI that he was a family friend helping a “struggling single mother.”

However in court Thursday, assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Racicot batted back Modine’s argument that the investigation was politically motivated or orchestrated by his higher-ups in the Justice Department, including William Mercer, U.S. attorney for the District of Montana.

Mercer is a Bush appointee and was a high-ranking member of the Justice Department under former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Mercer did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment Thursday.

Racicot dismissed Modine’s comments as a “grandiose” conspiracy theory.

“This notion that this case was about putting a target on people with Democratic affiliations cannot be further from the truth,” he said.

Records show Martel has contributed to several Republican campaigns.

The investigation led authorities to uncovering Clark’s blackmail scheme, and the government did the right thing by prosecuting her, Racicot said.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, who sentenced Clark, also admonished Modine for his comments.

“I think it’s inappropriate to make comments that besmirch (Mercer), who has been appointed by a president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate, absent some hard facts,” he said. “It ill-serves us all to speculate in the absence of facts and throw names around.”

Both attorneys recommended Clark be put under probation and not allowed to drink. Modine requested she be allowed to be in places of business that serve alcohol because of her job. She now lives in Las Vegas and has “in the past been an entertainer in a nightclub,” Modine said after the hearing.

As part of her probation, Clark will have to go through alcohol treatment, which Molloy identified as the major driver of Clark’s crime. She will also have to pay $5,250 in restitution.

Martel has been a major contributor to civic projects in Bozeman, including Bobcat Stadium. He is the namesake of Martel Field. He has not been charged with any crimes.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has refused to say whether there is still an investigation into a prostitution ring in Bozeman.

Daniel Person can be reached at dperson@dailychronicle.com or 582-2665.

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