Former athlete testifies at pediatrician’s trial

HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) — A former high school athlete who testified Monday in the trial of a southwest Ohio pediatrician accused of child-sex crimes said he and some of his teammates thought the doctor acted oddly while photographing games and would rub against them.

Monday marked the start of the second week of trial for Dr. Mark Blankenburg, of Hamilton, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati. Blankenburg, 53, faces 41 charges involving sex, drugs, bribery, money laundering and compelling prostitution. His twin brother, Dr. Scott Blankenburg, goes on trial in April on 22 charges that are similar but do not include drug counts. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Zach Murphy, a 20-year-old graduate of Hamilton High School, testified that Mark Blankenburg and his brother often photographed the school’s games. Murphy said it seemed apparent to him and some baseball teammates that Mark Blankenburg would occasionally rub against them as they left the dugout.

Murphy and three other athletes testified that the brothers took photos of them and other athletes while they were playing and provided the shots at the school’s athletic awards banquets.

When shown other photos, the former athletes said they weren’t aware they had been taken. One showed Murphy with his hand down the front of his baseball uniform pants, where he said he put them to keep them warm. Others showed rear views of some of the athletes without shirts on and one bending over to pull his uniform pants on over shorts.

On cross-examination, the former school athletes said they could not say whether those photos had been taken by Mark or Scott Blankenburg.

In other testimony, a Cincinnati police detective said he had been asked by Hamilton police to retrieve data from a computer that showed a username for Mark Blankenburg and e-mail accounts for both brothers. Detective David Ausdenmoore testified that the computer had been used to access pornographic Web sites and there were payments recorded to a discreet billing service for a site providing video and audio chat with live models performing sex acts.

A Hamilton police officer testifying Monday told jurors that he was a friend of both Blankenburgs and had played poker with them and others about once a month starting in 1999. Officer Mark Christian also said he had visited with the brothers at their residence sometimes once or twice a week over those years. Christian said he had never heard the names of the four men who have alleged that Mark Blankenburg molested them when they were juvenile patients.

Blankenburg’s attorneys allege that the accusers have made false claims and extorted money from him in return for their silence. Christian also testified that Mark Blankenburg had never told him that he was being blackmailed by anyone.