BUTLER CO., Ohio -- Both Dr. Mark Blankenburg and his pediatrician twin brother, Scott, were accused Thursday of molesting a former patient during a 15-year period beginning in 1990.
The stunning testimony came during the fourth day of Dr. Mark Blankenburg's sex crimes trial in the Butler County Courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth.
It's become a case of sex, drugs and hush money.
The accusation came from a 29-year-old man now serving an 81-year prison term in the Lebanon Correctional Institution in Warren County for attempted murder, armed robbery and other felony charges.
Often speaking in a soft voice and telling the court it was hard to talk about what he'd experienced, the man said he was repeatedly molested by Dr. Mark Blankenburg starting at age 10 and one time by Dr. Scott Blankenburg.
Every time he went to the doctor's office, the man said Dr. Mark Blankenburg performed a hernia exam on him.
"Instead of standing up, he had me lay down on the table," the witness stated. "He would fondle my genitals."
Then, the man said the doctor would have him sit up and examine him with his stethoscope.
"He had one hand oh my chest and one hand on my genitals during the exam," he continued, adding the abuse happened every time he came in for an appointment.
When he was 15, the man said he got his head hurt in a fight and went to Dr. Mark Blankenburg. He said he'd been “turned on” to Tylenol 3 during a previous visit and wanted some more of the drug.
It was during that visit, the man said Dr. Mark Blankenburg performed a different sex act on him and gave him $200 afterward and told not to tell anyone about it. He said he also got samples of Vicadin, which he ate.
That was the normal routine, according to the man. There would be a sex act, a payment of money and perhaps some sort of narcotic or barbiturate. The encounters often took place at Dr. Mark Blankenburg's office.
The witness recalled three times in 1995 when the sex act was videotaped and the payment increased to $500. "I hated it," he said.
One time, the man said he was due to meet Dr. Mark Blankenburg, but Dr. Scott Blankenburg was at the office and abused him.
The last rendezvous with Dr. Mark Blankenburg was when the victim was 25-years-old.
"I needed the money," he said, adding that by that time his office visits were free, despite the objections of Dr. Mark Blankenburg's secretary.
The man then detailed his downward spiral into crime.
He said he was up for five straight days after using crystal methamphetamine for the first and only time. Not being able to sleep, he called Dr. Mark Blankenburg and asked for a Valium prescription in March of 2005.
A month later, he said he tried to rob a bank in College Corner, Ohio, but the heist was busted up by police. He escaped, but his brother was captured.
"I started pounding back Valium and Oxycontin," he continued, ending up in Camden, Ohio, where he robbed a gas station and wounded Deputy Sheriff Brandon Roberts.
The witness later said he was a member of the white supremacist group, the Aryan Brotherhood.
On cross examination, defense attorney Michael Shanks recounted the felony charges against the man and stated, "Is it fair to said you haven't been a good boy?"
"Yes," came the reply.
He said the decision to join the Aryan Brotherhood came after suffering three concussions and other injuries in prison. He added he's been in solitary confinement in prison two of the four years he's already served.
Earlier, the girlfriend of another alleged victim testified that she and her boyfriend got around $10,000 from Dr. Mark Blankenburg. She said it was to support them and their three children, but it wasn't the only assistance they received.
"He paid our rent, our electric, bought my kids furniture, gave us baby formula, infant Tylenol, our cable bill and he paid for my car to be fixed," Tracey Fields testified.
Fields said that once when she tried to get money from Dr. Mark Blankenburg, he refused. She said that she had talked to a lawyer because she'd learned of his relationship with her boyfriend when he was a minor.
"Dr. Blankenburg said, ‘Go ahead, my lawyers will eat you alive,’" Fields told the court.
She added that Dr. Mark Blankenburg told her that he and his brother, Scott, had a relationship with her boyfriend.
During cross-examination, Michael Shanks asked Fields whether she had reported the alleged encounters to police. She said no.
"So, if I understand what you're telling the ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the most important person in your life tells you he had a sexual relationship with a doctor as a juvenile, you don't report it to the police – and instead, you basically ask the person who did this to this person who is important to you, for money," he asked, noting that nothing was done for over four years until after Dr. Mark Blankenburg was arrested.
"Not that I didn't want to," she replied, adding that she was nice to Dr. Mark Blankenburg because she had three kids, her boyfriend didn't have a job and they needed the money.
"It was hush money," she said. "He's never held a job – never. Now, I know why.”
The prosecution called two landlords to the stand to verify that they rented property to two of Dr. Blankenburg's alleged victims and that the doctor was involved in helping to pay the rent on each.
Keith Mills said in his case the rent was $550 a month. He recalled hearing Dr. Blankenburg saying that he was tired of the victim calling him for money all of the time.
A second landlord, Lisa Hogeback, rented an apartment to a different victim.
She testified that the man and his girlfriend didn't qualify for a lease, but that Dr. Blankenburg signed as a co-applicant, adding that the doctor was presented to her as the man's uncle.
As situations changed and the man was sent to prison, Hogeback said that the lease ended with Dr. Blankenburg paying pro-rated rent of $500.
Another morning witness was Justin Carrizales, 23, who formerly roomed with one of Dr. Blankenburg's accusers.
Carrizales said his roommate asked him to pick up a prescription for Percocet one Saturday morning because he was over his prescription limit.
He testified that the prescription was in his name and was written by Dr. Mark Blankenburg, even though Carrizales said he had no medical condition requiring the drug.
"I had it in my hand for a second," Carrizales told the court, before saying he gave it to his roommate. "He got cranky when he didn't have his medication."
The roommate wasn't working, according to Carrizales, but would have varying amounts of cash ranging from $500 to $1,000. He said he never asked where the money came from.
The final witness before the court adjourned for lunch was Ron Mills, account clerk supervisor in the cashier's office at the Lebanon Correctional Institution in Warren County. He testified that on two separate occasions money was deposited into an account of one of the inmates by Dr. Mark Blankenburg.
