Ex-NBA “bad-boy” Isiah Thomas was entangled in a bitter, heart-wrenching paternity case that blew up in his face just months after he was married – and dragged through the courts for a decade.
A Bloomfield Hills, Mich., woman has received child support from Thomas for her 19-year-old son, Marc E.T. Dones, who she claims was fathered by Thomas in a liaison a mere two months before he walked down the aisle with college sweetheart Lynn Kendall.
Jenni Dones claimed in her December 1985 paternity suit that after an “intimate, exclusive, ongoing relationship,” she and Isiah conceived a love child on May 26, 1985. Marc was born the following February.
“She was a beautiful young lady,” a source close to the case who asked not to be identified said of Jenni Dones.
“She wasn’t looking for anything except for her son – something fair and appropriate given Isiah’s station in life.”
The 1985 lawsuit came at a point that should have been the crowning moment of Thomas’ astounding career. The child grew into a young man whose passion for poetry is shared by Thomas.
Thomas met Kendall, his future wife and the daughter of a Secret Service agent, while both attended Indiana University, where the rising basketball star played for hothead coach Bobby Knight.
The relationship blossomed as Thomas signed with the Pistons in 1981 in a four-year, $1.6 million contract.
Just three years into that pact, in 1984, the Pistons gave Thomas a 10-year, $12 million contract; that summer, Thomas and Kendall became engaged.
The wedding took place in July 1985, but Thomas apparently had a hook-up with Dones two months earlier that would cost him dearly.
Dones’ former lawyer, Elbert Hatchett, whom she later sued, told The Associated Press in 1992 the relationship between Dones and Thomas was “a one-night stand that resulted in a pregnancy and she wanted Isiah to marry her.”
The source’s recollection of the relationship is far different.
“It was more than one night,” the source said. “It went on for a period of time, much more than a month.”
According to a Michigan Court of Appeals document, Dones and Thomas came to a settlement in 1987 – finalized at a judge’s home, according to the source – in which Thomas agreed to pay about $52,000 and provide $2,764.78 a month until Marc Dones reached 18, when Marc would get a lump-sum payment of $100,000.
“This paternity claim originally was brought at the time of the plaintiff’s birth by plaintiff’s mother, who was not married to defendant at the time of plaintiff’s conception and birth,” the document noted.
“While it does not appear that the court made a formal finding of paternity, it does appear that defendant executed an acknowledgment of paternity.”
Thomas, who last week was slapped with another lawsuit – brought by fired Knick executive Anucha Browne Sanders, who alleges Thomas demeaned her and pressed her to have sex – declined to comment through a spokesman.
The source called the circumstances of the 1987 settlement “most unusual.”
“One would anticipate it was done in a courthouse, as opposed to a judge’s home,” he said.
The Thomases own first son, Josh, was born June 15, 1988.
Then, in 1992, Dones filed a lawsuit charging that the settlement negotiated by Hatchett inadequately provided for the support and education of Marc. She also wanted Thomas to acknowledge his paternity of the boy.
The May 22, 1995, decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed the settlement, saying state paternity law unconstitutionally bars a parent or child from reopening such deals. In her victory, Dones was able to get an undisclosed amount of additional support for her son.
The source said he also recalled allegations of Thomas’s involvement in gambling – an accusation outlined in the 1997 book “Money Players.”
The source said charges that Thomas had money to gamble may have “rankled Marc’s mother – that Isiah would say, ‘That’s all Marc’s getting, a deal’s a deal and too bad for you.’ ”
“Her main concern was for Marc, so he could have the best start possible for life. It was my understanding that Marc felt like he was left out” when he saw the material wealth Thomas’ other children had.
According to the source, Thomas finally did come through.
“He did, in my understanding, come to some acceptable provision. It was considerable,” the source said. “He did step up to the plate after having some considerable nudging.”
The source said the compensation – which he did not quantify – concerned Marc’s college education. He did not know if or where Marc attended school.
It is not clear if Thomas maintains a relationship with Marc.
Since the suit and settlement, things have apparently been tough for Dones, a tall, athletic-looking woman.
Bloomfield Hills is a middle-class housing development of condos, and hers is a two-story townhouse that backs onto a lush communal garden; she has three small dogs.
Puttering around her house yesterday wearing sneakers and a tracksuit, she shook her head and refused to talk about Thomas or their relationship when approached by a reporter.
Dones, who holds a manicurist’s license in Michigan – and also is listed as a director of the Urban Studies Center at Wayne State University – is a Michigan representative for Bio Sculpture USA, a company that sells an artificial-fingernail lengthener.
Heavily in debt, Dones filed in 2002 for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, apparently hoping to work out payments with those she owed.
But in December 2005, she converted the filing to a Chapter 7 asset liquidation – turning over her condo to a bankruptcy trustee to cover a staggering $70,000 debt.
In papers filed in federal bankruptcy court Jan. 18, Dones lists herself as self-employed, with total monthly income of $2,001.55.
Her monthly expenses are listed as $3,124.50 – $2,191.50 of which goes to pay the mortgage on her modest condo.
She is single, with a 13-year-old son listed as a dependent, according to the filing. Marc Dones is not listed.
The paperwork shows she owes $12,500 to the IRS for taxes going back to 1996.
Marc, meanwhile, is described on one online literary site, thedetroiter.com, as a talented writer and poet – a talent he apparently shares with Thomas.
“I like poetry because it’s free. There are no rules to it,” Thomas once stated. “You are not restricted or confined in any way.”
Marc Dones now likes to frequent a coffee house, the Java Hutt, in Birmingham, Mich.
“He comes in here regularly,” said a Java Hutt waitress. “I think he’s a good writer.”
The teen was once quoted in a Detroit Free Press article on the street scene by the coffee house, describing the crowd as “14-year-old blondes with cellphones.”