LEBANON — A Knoxville businessman who masqueraded as a police officer to try to coerce a 19-year-old girl for sex said Wednesday that he was motivated by mental illness and an anti-depressant that caused him to lose control.

        “I know what I did was wrong now,” Mark Mixner, a 39-year-old father of two young girls, said before being led out of the Warren County courtroom in handcuffs to serve a two-year prison sentence. “I was on a drug my family physician prescribed to me which was like speed. I just didn't know what I was doing.”

Mixner

        He said he has lost his medical supply business because of the incident and was now pursuing a psychology degree so he could “help other men who may be caught up in some ... illness they may not know about.”

        Mr. Mixner, who pleaded guilty in July to charges of kidnapping and possessing criminal tools, faced up to eight years in prison.

        Defense attorney Dennis Lieberman said Mr. Mixner was diagnosed with bipolar disease, or manic depression, after the December 2000 incident and is being successfully treated for the illness.

        Mr. Mixner was visiting the area on business when police said he used flashing red and blue lights to pull over Karli Sizemore on Ohio 741 in Springboro. Ms. Sizemore, who had just left a West Carrollton nightclub, said Mr. Mixner asked for oral sex and other sexual favors, but let her leave when she declined and began crying.

        Mr. Mixner was arrested in West Carrollton.

        Warren County Assistant Prosecutor James Beaton disputed that Mr. Mixner lost touch with reality that night. He said evidence taken from Mr. Mixner's vehicle — a wigged disguise, a ski mask, and police lights — proved that the incident was premeditated and suggested that he had offended before.

        Ms. Sizemore told the judge she was relieved the ordeal was over.

        “I've never been so terrified in my life. I've never felt so violated, ever,” Ms. Sizemore said. “No one has ever said to me what he has said to me. He knew what he was doing. I caught him in a moment of weakness so I could get out.”

        Judge Neal Bronson said he imposed the minimum sentence because Mr. Mixner had no prior criminal record, had expressed remorse and had taken responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty.

        He also designated Mr. Mixner as a sexually oriented offender, which requires him to register his address with authorities for 10 years after release from prison.

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