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Athlete testifies that doctor 'sometimes rubbed against us'

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Staff photo staff photo/Dr. Mark Blankenburg is facing trial in Butler County Common Pleas Court on more than 40 felony charges.

By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 3:23 PM Tuesday, October 13, 2009

HAMILTON — Zach Murphy said he was a patient of Dr. Mark Blankenburg and knew him as a photographer on the sidelines at Hamilton High School sporting events in which Murphy played .

The 20-year-old 2007 HHS grad was among four former Big Blue athletes who took the stand Monday, Oct. 12, in Butler County Common Pleas Court in the trial of the Hamilton pediatrician, identifying photos taken during games by the defendant and his twin brother and fellow pediatrician, Dr. R. Scott Blankenburg .

But unlike the photo packets of action shots the Blankenburgs passed out to players at year-end Big Blue banquets, some photos of athletes are part of the prosecution’s case.

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

Another 12 charges involving child pornography will be a part of a future trial, prosecutors said.

The four former athletes who testified Monday are not alleging sexual misconduct by Blankenburg, who is charged with molesting three former male patients.

But Murphy said he and his teammates noticed odd behavior from the doctor around the dugout.

“It became apparent he sometimes rubbed against us ... it seemed like on purpose,” Murphy said.

The prosecution’s case includes photos police say they found when they searched the brothers’ Susan Drive home, and to which they assign pornographic intent.

During cross-examination , Murphy said he didn’t know which of the doctors took one particular photo shown the jury.

Other former Big Blue athletes testifying Monday were Justin Schultheiss, 20, a former Hamilton baseball player; Brent Bowling, 33, a 1994 graduate who played basketball and baseball; and Jordan Purcell, 18, a recent grad who was a member of the football team.

All the men said they were recipients of photo packets from Blankenburg, who commonly took photographs at sporting events and presented them to athletes at school banquets.

All of the former athletes said the images of them found in albums at the Blankenburg residence were not a part of the handouts. Prosecutors said the thousands of photographs focusing on athletes’ rear ends and bare chests are examples of child erotica and point to Blankenburg’s specific sexual appetite for young boys.

Schultheiss identified a photo of himself bent over getting gas at a station on Main Street in Hamilton; Bowling identified numerous shots of him bare chested in Florida while he was traveling with an all-star baseball team. The Blankenburgs also traveled to Florida for the games.

And Purcell flipped through a large binder of hundreds of photos of himself snapping the ball — all taken from behind.

Earlier on Monday, a Hamilton police officer who was part of regular poker games with Dr. Mark Blankenburg and his twin brother testified.

Officer Mark Christian said he played poker at the Washington Boulevard residence of Mark and R. Scott Blankenburg once a month for years. Others in the group, he said, included Fillmore Elementary School Principal Rex Bucheit and Duke Baker, husband of district Superintendent Janet Baker.

Christian, a former DARE officer, told the jury the group also took trips to Las Vegas about seven times, with the doctors cashing in flying miles to pay air fare for the group and rooms being “comped” based on frequency of gambling. The regular poker games and trips ended about 2007, he said.

Christian said he considered Mark Blankenburg his friend.

Assistant Prosecutor Lance Salyer asked Christian if Mark Blankenburg ever told him he was being blackmailed or extorted.

Christian answered “no.”

Last week, and jurors heard men testify in detail about alleged sexual abuse by the Hamilton doctor and getting paid thousands in “hush money.” He and his brother face charges of sex with underage male patients, bribery, money laundering and using their long-standing practice as an enterprise for criminal activity.

Prosecutors say the defendant molested minor male patients, then paid them in money and drugs to keep quiet for years. But the defense contends Blankenburg was extorted by the men who made up the story about the sexual abuse and threatened to expose a consensual sexual adult relationship.

Hamilton County Detective Dave Ausdenmoore, an electronic forensic specialist, testified he found payments using a discrete billing service on a computer taken from Blankenburg’s home for a Web site he said was pornographic.

The site is for “video and audio chat with live models performing sex acts,” Ausdenmoore said. One of the e-mail accounts set up on the computer was for Mark Blankenburg, according to officials.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Chris Pagan pointed out accessing a pornographic site is not illegal or proof of molesting minors.

Defense attorneys say they will call witnesses after the prosecution has completed its case today, Oct. 13, but they said Monday afternoon it is still to be determined if Blankenburg will testify.

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