Post by WaTcHeR on Feb 15, 2006 10:46:54 GMT -5
02/15/2006 - A Baltimore County police officer who had been assigned to Dundalk Middle School pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually abusing a seventh-grade boy he met at the school.
James Mark Blankenship Jr., 28, of Parkville, entered guilty pleas in Baltimore County Circuit Court to one count of sexually abusing a minor and one count of misconduct in office. State sentencing guidelines recommend a prison term of one to six years.
As part of a plea agreement reached yesterday, prosecutors agreed to dismiss other charges against Blankenship that stemmed from his alleged abuse of another middle school boy and an alleged consensual sexual encounter with a 16-year-old boy who did not attend the school.
Blankenship had been a school resource officer at Dundalk Middle for two years before he was charged in July and suspended without pay. Prior to his assignment at the school, Blankenship worked out of the North Point precinct for about four years.
Police spokesman Bill Toohey said that Blankenship will now be fired.
Jason G. League, an assistant Baltimore County state's attorney, told a judge during the plea hearing that what began as a friendship between Blankenship and the 13-year-old middle school boy in the 2004-2005 school year turned sexual. On several occasions in the spring of last year, Blankenship took the boy in his police cruiser to parking lots in Dundalk, where the officer encouraged the boy to touch his genital area and upper thigh through his uniform pants, League told the judge. Blankenship also invited the boy to his home, where they twice engaged in a sex act, the prosecutor said.
After hearing League's description of the events, defense attorney Andrew I. Alperstein told the judge that his client "doesn't agree with every single detail," but that there was enough to support the guilty plea.
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James Mark Blankenship Jr., 28, of Parkville, entered guilty pleas in Baltimore County Circuit Court to one count of sexually abusing a minor and one count of misconduct in office. State sentencing guidelines recommend a prison term of one to six years.
As part of a plea agreement reached yesterday, prosecutors agreed to dismiss other charges against Blankenship that stemmed from his alleged abuse of another middle school boy and an alleged consensual sexual encounter with a 16-year-old boy who did not attend the school.
Blankenship had been a school resource officer at Dundalk Middle for two years before he was charged in July and suspended without pay. Prior to his assignment at the school, Blankenship worked out of the North Point precinct for about four years.
Police spokesman Bill Toohey said that Blankenship will now be fired.
Jason G. League, an assistant Baltimore County state's attorney, told a judge during the plea hearing that what began as a friendship between Blankenship and the 13-year-old middle school boy in the 2004-2005 school year turned sexual. On several occasions in the spring of last year, Blankenship took the boy in his police cruiser to parking lots in Dundalk, where the officer encouraged the boy to touch his genital area and upper thigh through his uniform pants, League told the judge. Blankenship also invited the boy to his home, where they twice engaged in a sex act, the prosecutor said.
After hearing League's description of the events, defense attorney Andrew I. Alperstein told the judge that his client "doesn't agree with every single detail," but that there was enough to support the guilty plea.
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