Blankenburg likely to take plea deal after twin brother sentenced to 20 years

Photos: Scott Blankenburg pleads guilty

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file photo Scott Blankenburg in an earlier court appearance.

Attorney for Dr. R. Scott  Blankenburg expects his client to enter a plea  Thursday.

By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 7:51 AM Wednesday, January 13, 2010

HAMILTON — Fairfield pediatrician Dr. R. Scott Blankenburg, accused of multiple felonies involving juveniles, likely will take a plea bargain this week, his attorney says.

“I expect Scott to enter a plea on Thursday,” defense attorney Greg Howard said Tuesday, Jan. 12.

The plea would come less than a week after his twin brother and fellow pediatrician Dr. Mark Blankenburg was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.

Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum said a plea hearing has been scheduled for Thursday before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers.

Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said his office and Scott Blankenburg’s defense team have been in plea negotiations for weeks, noting they were at times “heated.”

“It has gone back and fourth several times,” Piper said. “But at this time we are in a place that we are in agreement.”

The plea — or at least a trial date change — seems probable because a two-week murder trial has been rescheduled for April 19. That is the same week Powers was scheduled to begin Scott Blankenburg’s trial.

On Friday, Jan. 8, Mark Blankenburg was sentenced to 21 to 27 years in prison for molesting three former patients, and for other charges stemming from money and drugs he paid the victims for years to keep quiet.

Scott Blankenburg is facing similar charges. He also was indicted in December on charges for alleged conduct with a 15-year-old boy. The charges allege he allowed the victim, now an adult, to use his urine to pass a drug test and helped him inject heroin.

Scott Blankenburg, 54, was arrested Dec. 4 after a Butler County grand jury handed down an indictment on three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, bribery, complicity to deception to obtain dangerous drugs and complicity to possession of heroin.

The doctor was indicted last year, along with his twin brother, on 22 counts of sex and child pornography charges. He is on house arrest and is fitted with an electronic monitor.

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