Convict is third accuser to testify against pediatrician

Dr. Mark Blankenburg, right, with his attorneys Michael Shanks and Chris Pagan, awaits testimony in front of Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth Thursday Oct. 8, 2009.

Staff photo by Greg Lynch Dr. Mark Blankenburg, right, with his attorneys Michael Shanks and Chris Pagan, awaits testimony in front of Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth Thursday Oct. 8, 2009.

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By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 9:18 PM Thursday, October 8, 2009

HAMILTON — A third man who says he was sexually molested as a youth by a Hamilton pediatrician was led into court in handcuffs under heavy guard to testify Thursday, Oct. 8.

The 29-year-old man, who is serving an 81-year prison sentence for shooting a police officer after a botched bank robbery, looked straight ahead and struggled at times to talk, but eventually said Dr. Mark Blankenburg had molested him.

With a stethoscope in one hand, Blankenburg listened to his chest; and with his other hand, the doctor felt his genitals, the man said during testimony in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

The man said he went to Blankenburg when he was 15 years old after being injured in a fight. The doctor gave him pain medication, and he became addicted, he said.

The man said he went back to Blankenburg for more drugs, and the doctor sexually molested him.

Afterward: “He pulled out his wallet and gave me some money,” the man said, adding Blankenburg also gave him a bag of pills.

The man said he and Blankenburg fell into a routine: He would travel to the doctor’s office by skateboard or bicycle for sexual encounters, for which Blankenburg gave him money.

On some occasions, Blankenburg filmed the visits, he said. The encounters continued into his adult years, the man said, until he went to prison.

“I hated it,” the man said. “I was hard up for cash.”

Blankenburg, 53, faces 41 counts of drug, child sex and money laundering offenses.

A fourth accuser is scheduled to testify Friday morning.

Accuser admits crime spree, says it was because of drug addiction

The third alleged sex abuse victim of Dr. Mark Blankenburg told Butler County jury Thursday, Oct. 8, he fully expects breathe his last breath in prison and is in fear for his life for his cooperation in the case, but it is worth it to help other children.

The 29-year-old man said he was high on pills provided illegally to him by Blankenburg as a payment for sex when he went on a crime spree that ended when he shot an officer, who did recover.

He said sent letter from prison to Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones after hearing of Blankenburg’s arrest in December 2008 and said he wanted to help.

When Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum asked why, he answered: “First, I wanted to make sure no more kids got hurt. Second I wanted to give something back to the man I almost killed. I had no money, I had no other way. Try to pay something back for what I had done.”

The man said anytime he needed money, he would contact Blankenburg and arrange to met him after office hours for sex. He always left with cash and sometimes prescriptions. He estimated the encounters occurred 100 times as an adult between the ages of 18 and 25.

On one occasion when he was a minor, the man said he showed up to meet Blankenburg, and his twin brother, Dr. R. Scott Blankenburg, was present. He said Scott Blankenburg performed oral sex on him and paid him $200.

Mark Blankenburg waived his right Monday to a jury trial on 25 charges related to drugs, money laundering and bribery. That means Judge Keith Spaeth will decide those charges, and the jury will weigh whether to convict him on the remaining 16 sex charges.

Specifically, those charges are: three counts of corruption of a minor, six counts of gross sexual imposition, four counts of compelling prostitution, one count complicity to compelling prostitution and three counts of pandering sexually oriented sexual matter involving a minor. All involved alleged crimes against former patients.

Wednesday, two men, took the stand and recounted being molested by Blankenburg at his F Street office. They said they received money and drugs from Blankenburg for years to keep quiet.

But defense attorneys for the 53-year-old doctor say the former patients made up the child sex abuse allegations and extorted money from Blankenburg. They don’t deny he had a consensual sexual relationship with some of the men when they were adults.

On cross examination by defense attorney Michael Shanks, the convict admitted he wrote dozens of letters from prison to Blankenburg, many of them sexually graphic. He also placed telephone calls to Blakenburg, carrying on friendly conversations.

The man said he did it to get Blankenburg to send him money, then after hearing about allegations against Blankenburg he was trying to trick him into saying something about the abuse he suffered.

The jury heard a tape from prison between the man and his grandmother in which he said he thought he could use the allegations against Blankenburg to his advantage.

Shanks pointed to the letters, phone conversations and a seven-year adult consensual relationship, and asked the man, “you want this jury to believe you hate and despised him? That he is a despicable man you say performed horrible acts on you between 15 and 18?”

He replied “yes.”

Wednesday morning, a girlfriend of another of Blankenburg’s alleged victims of described how she became aware of the issues Blankenburg is accused of.

The woman, who has three young children with the 36-year-old man, said in 2005, her boyfriend confessed to her that he had been molested as a child by Blankenburg.

She said her boyfriend also said he had been getting cash for years from Blankenburg. Before, the woman said she believed the man’s story that the nearly $10,000 came from his grandparents.

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