A prominent Baltimore County lawyer has been accused of exposing himself to a female jogger on the Northern Central Railroad Trail on Thanksgiving morning, and police say the suspect matches the description of the half-naked man who has confronted women on the trail for the past 18 months.

Police identified the suspect as David C. Daneker, 61, who was arrested Nov. 28 at his home in the 12600 block of Long Green Pike in Hydes.

Daneker, vice president and general counsel for Sheppard Pratt Health System and a former partner at the Baltimore firm of Miles & Stockbridge, said yesterday that it is a case of mistaken identity.

"I'm innocent," he said. "I believe the woman mistakenly identified me."

Daneker, a former Baltimore City school board president and one-time chairman of the Maryland Health Care Foundation, was charged with one count of indecent exposure, a misdemeanor, and was released on his own recognizance. A trial is scheduled for March 18.

The woman, according to the police report, was running south on the trail when a man appeared from under the Phoenix Road/Philpot Road bridge. "When the man came closer she noticed that he was running past her without any clothing on from the waist down to his shoes," the police report said.

While the woman was at a Phoenix Road parking lot calling police, she said that she saw the man again -- this time with pants on -- and that he drove away in a navy blue Volvo, according to police reports. Officers traced the license plate to Daneker, who was identified by the woman, police said.

Daneker told officers he had been running on the trail that morning, but said "he never exposed himself to anyone," according to the police report.