Who is Diane Merchant?

Diane Merchant was the victim of a slight bureaucratic mistake. This mistake was then published in a public newspaper article. The correction to this article reads as follows, "Because of incorrect information received from the Clerk of Courts Office, Diane K. Merchant,38, was incorrectly listed as being fined for prostitution in Wednesday's paper. The charge should have been failure to stop at a railroad crossing. The Public Opinion apologizes for the error." Because this is obviously hilarious, the correction is on many comedic websites.