News

Actions

Courser sentenced to 12 months of probation, can avoid jail

Posted

LAPEER, Mich. (AP) — A former Michigan lawmaker has been sentenced to 12 months of probation stemming from charges that were filed over a plot to hide his extramarital affair with another legislator.

Todd Courser was sentenced Monday in Lapeer. He must pay $1,125 in fines, court costs and fees.

Courser, 47, can avoid spending 45 days in jail by doing 90 hours of community service and successfully completing probation.

He pleaded no contest last month to a misdemeanor.

An aide for Courser and former Rep. Cindy Gamrat testified during a probable cause hearing that Courser asked him to send a bogus, sexually explicit email to thousands of their fellow Republicans as a trick so his affair with Gamrat wouldn’t be believed.

Courser resigned from the state House in 2015 rather than be expelled.