Police: Man charged with sex crime after hounding girl at park
Mark Blackmore asked the girl her age and if "she was fast," police wrote. He also asked "if she dates grown men" and wanted to be his wife.
A repeat offender who followed a 12-year-old girl at a Berkeley park earlier this month has been charged with a felony sex crime, court papers show.
Mark Blackmore, who was released on his own recognizance, was charged last week with contacting a minor to commit a sex crime described as lewd acts with a child under 14, according to records online.
On March 2, Blackmore approached the girl in San Pablo Park at about 12:45 p.m., Berkeley police wrote in court papers.
Blackmore asked the girl her age, if she smoked and if "she was fast," police wrote.
Blackmore, who is 61, also asked the girl to guess his age and told her he was 34, according to Berkeley police.
When the girl began walking away, "Blackmore told her to stop and come closer," BPD wrote. Then he asked her "if she dates grown men and if she wanted to be his wife."
When the girl said she was scared, Blackmore gave her $2, police wrote. She then left the area and told her mother what happened, according to BPD.
Read more about sex crimes in Berkeley.
Police said video surveillance footage from San Pablo Park corroborated the girl's account of what happened.
At the time of his arrest on March 9, police wrote, Blackmore had a no-bail warrant for a parole violation.
He also had a 1980 arrest linked to assault to commit rape and multiple arrests related to robbery and burglary, police wrote in charging papers.
Emilie Raguso
Blackmore has six convictions dating back to 1982 for robbery and burglary, according to charging papers.
Mark Blackmore. BPD
Last year, he was charged after trying to rob a woman at gunpoint outside her South Berkeley home, police wrote at the time.
A plea deal in that case in March 2023 resulted in a 16-month sentence at San Quentin State Prison to be served at half time along with credit for time served.
His prison release date was not immediately available.
Blackmore was arraigned last week in connection with the new case and is now set to enter a plea Tuesday at Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland, according to jail records online.
