Pediatrician's fate up to jury

Staff photo by Greg Lynch Dr. Mark Blankenburg sits with his attorney Chris Pagen in Butler County Common Pleas court, Tuesday Oct. 13, 2009. Blankenburg, 53, faces 41 felony counts, including corruption of a minor, gross sexual imposition and drug charges.

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Jury requests tapes found in basement of doctor accused of sex crimes

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Dr. Mark Blankenburg attorneys Chris Pagan and Michael Shanks along with prosecution attorneys Lance Salyers and Jason Phillabaum have a conference in front of Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009.

Greg Lynch/Staff photographer Dr. Mark Blankenburg attorneys Chris Pagan and Michael Shanks along with prosecution attorneys Lance Salyers and Jason Phillabaum have a conference in front of Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009.

Hamilton pediatrician Dr. Mark Blankenburg accused of sex crimes against males

By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 1:31 PM Thursday, October 15, 2009

HAMILTON — A Butler County jury will convene today, Oct. 15, to begin deliberating the fate of a pediatrician accused of sexually abusing former patients.

Dr. Mark Blankenburg, who did not testify, is accused of paying those former patients in money and drugs to keep quiet.

Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth read instructions to the jury Wednesday afternoon on the 16 child sex counts involving three former patients that the jury will consider. Deliberations will begin at 9 a.m.

Because Blankenburg, 53, waived his right to a jury trial on 25 charges involving drugs, money laundering and bribery, Spaeth will decide those charges.

Attorneys are scheduled to have closing arguments this afternoon before the judge on those charges. Twelve charges involving child pornography will be a part of a future trial, prosecutors said.

During closing arguments, Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum said the case is about “children. Children who went to a doctor’s office and were molested.

“And why would a beloved pediatrician, high school booster and beloved member of society do such a stupid, criminal thing?”

Phillabaum said because Blankenburg has a “specific sexual appetite for teenage boys.”

Defense says their client was extorted; prosecutors say accusers have no reason to lie

During closing arguments, Wednesday, Oct. 14, prosecutors said a “raggedy” bunch of young men stood against a respected Hamilton pediatrician and told the truth about the molestation they suffered in his F Street office as children.

Defense attorney Michael Shanks said his client, Dr. Mark Blankenburg, did have a consensual sexual relationship with two of them but said the men, one who is in prison for shooting a police officer, extorted his client for years. He asked the jury if they could believe alleged victims who probably never told the truth in their lives.

Using an overhead projector, Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum showed just a few of the hundreds of thousands of photos taken of student athletes showing their backsides and bare chests.

For 20 years, Blankenburg and his twin brother and fellow pediatrician, Dr. R. Scott Blankenburg, stood in the sidelines at Hamilton High School games taking action shots. Packets were passed out to each athlete at the end of each season.

“Nothing criminal about that,” Phillabaum said.

He then pointed to the metal racks in the courtroom and the 15 boxes of photos seized by police at the Blankenburgs’ Susan Drive, which the prosecution say is “child erotica.”

The boxes included 50 shots of a catcher’s rear end, 10 shots of a boy’s bare midriff and 1,048 shots of one athlete’s behind that is “clearly inappropriate,” Phillabaum said, and possessing the images is proof of Blankenburg’s appetite for young boys, he said.

The prosecutors also said the four men who testified during the eight-day trial about the abuse they allegedly suffered as children had no reason not to tell the truth.

The 29-year-old who is serving an 81-year prison sentence didn’t get a “deal” for his testimony, said Assistant Prosecutor Lance Salyers. All the men came forward and repeated embarrassing details about the encounters and admitted to returning to the doctor who paid them in drugs and money for sex.

Shanks told the jury in closing arguments, the case against Blankenburg is not about photos of athletes found at the Blankenburgs’ home, it is about whether they believe the alleged victims.

“They (prosecution) don’t have any direct evidence, I have all this crap,” Shanks said pointing to the boxes of photographs. He added there is no independent evidence of any of the alleged sexual abuse.

He said all the men had reason to lie, such as the 24-year-old who was the first to disclose the alleged abuse. On the stand, that man admitted he extorted Blankenburg for years, getting cash and prescriptions.

“He knew he had been taking money to the tune of quarter of a million from Dr. Blankenburg,” Shanks said, adding that when the investigation began the accuser made up a story to save himself. “He was on the hook for a pretty bad deal if it didn’t come out his way.”

From his prison cell, the 29-year-old accuser called his grandmother and told her what he had heard about Blankenburg during the investigation, Shanks said. The tape was played for the jury.

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard it,” is what the man said, Shanks repeated. “He was just talking to his grandmother and he did not say I am surprised or shocked or anything like that,” Shanks said, asking if the man had been abused by Blankenburg why didn’t he tell his grandmother then.

Then Shanks repeated what he called the smoking gun in the case.

The alleged victim then said on the tape, “But I am thinking I might be able to use it to my advantage.”

Shanks said to call the inmate — who has a longtime consensual sexual relationship with Blankenburg — a victim is “ludicrous.”

Much of the prosecution’s evidence it designed to “make you think somehow (Blankenburg) lives a lifestyle that is inappropriate therefore he must be guilty of something,” Shanks said.

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