Twin pediatricians both due in court today

Dr. Mark E. Blankenburg is accused of corruption of a minor and drug trafficking.

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Greg Lynch/Mark Blankenburg sits with his attorney Chris Pagen as Judge Keith Spaeth announces the verdict in 25 charges against the Hamilton pediatrician, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009.

One brother faces a hearing to schedule sentencing, the other a session for judge to consider motions.

By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 7:02 AM Thursday, November 19, 2009

HAMILTON — Twin brothers and pediatricians are scheduled to be back in court today, Nov. 19, for hearings on their cases.

Dr. Mark Blankenburg, 53, who practiced on F Street in Hamilton, was convicted last month of 16 sex charges after a two-week trial and two days of jury deliberation in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

The doctor waived his right to a jury trial on 25 charges — including drug trafficking, corrupting another with drugs, money laundering, bribery and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity — and left that decision to Butler County Judge Keith Spaeth. The judge found Blankenburg guilty of six of the 25 charges — five counts of drug trafficking and one count of money laundering.

Spaeth will consider when to sentence the doctor at today’s 3 p.m. hearing, as well as when to schedule a trial for 12 charges involving child pornography that were severed from the original indictment.

His brother, Dr. R. Scott Blankenburg, a Fairfield pediatrician, is scheduled to stand trial in April on similar charges. Judge Noah Powers will hear motions in that case at 1 p.m. today.

In a motion filed last week, Assistant Prosecutors Lance Salyers argued Mark Blankenburg, who faces more than 80 years in prison for the 22-charge conviction, should be sentenced “without unnecessary delay.”

“Nothing in the Ohio Revised Code, the Rules of Criminal Procedure, or the local rules of the court even suggests, let alone requires, that the trial court wait to sentence a defendant until all remaining charges pending against him are resolved,” Salyers said in the motion.

Blankenburg’s attorney Chris Pagan had no comment Wednesday about the prosecution’s request for immediate sentencing.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.

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