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Judge finds Blankenburg guilty of drug charges, not bribery

Mark Blankenburg sits with his attorneys Chris Pagen and Mike Shanks as Judge Keith Spaeth announces the verdict in 25 charges against the Hamilton pediatrician, Thursday, Oct. 29.

Staff photo by Greg Lynch Mark Blankenburg sits with his attorneys Chris Pagen and Mike Shanks as Judge Keith Spaeth announces the verdict in 25 charges against the Hamilton pediatrician, Thursday, Oct. 29.

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By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer 10:30 PM Thursday, October 29, 2009

HAMILTON — Pediatrician Mark Blankenburg was found guilty Thursday, Oct. 29, of one money laundering charge and some drug trafficking counts, but not of bribery.

Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth handed the down his verdict on the 53-year-old Hamilton doctor, who has already been convicted of sex charges involving juvenile patients.

The patients, now grown men, were “very brave” for coming forward, Butler County Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum said. “They put a very dangerous man in prison,” Phillabaum said. “He will never be able to hurt another child.”

Blankenburg was found guilty of five counts of drug trafficking and one count on money laundering.

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 Spaeth.

Blankenburg was convicted

Oct. 16 of all 16 sex charges he faced following a two-week trial and two days of jury deliberation. He has now been convicted of 22 felony charges and faces more than 80 years in prison, Phillabaum said.

Spaeth scheduled a 3 p.m. hearing for Nov. 19 to set a date for a trial to consider 12 charges involving child pornography that were severed from the original indictment and to decide when Blankenburg will be sentenced.

Blankenburg’s twin brother and fellow pediatrician, R. Scott Blankenburg, is scheduled to stand trial in April on similar crimes, minus the drug charges.

Spaeth took about 40 minutes to read a lengthy verdict convicting Hamilton pediatrician Blankenburg of six additional charges.

Those charges included bribery and corrupting another with drugs. However, Spaeth acquitted him of 19 others, including the most serious felony.

In his decision, Spaeth said the prosecution failed to prove Blankenburg caused one of the victims to become drug dependant.

“By virtue of his own testimony he was drug dependent prior (to prescriptions written by Blankenburg),” Spaeth said.

Another victim, now in prison for shooting a police officer and a botched bank robbery, “generally lacked credibility” during his testimony.

The judge said the evidence reflects Blankenburg continued to make payments to the victims into their adulthood and “viewed them as sexually objects.” The doctor did not hide his payment to the men, which would be characteristic of a bribe.

Prosecutors maintained Blankenburg paid the men for years to buy their silence.

”The purpose of the payments was of fuel the defendant’s fantasies,” Spaeth said.

He added the victims approached Blankenburg over and over again to ask for money.

But Spaeth did find the prosecution proved Blankenburg wrote prescriptions for the victims that at times violated the law.

Prosecutors maintained Blankenburg used his practice as a front for criminal activity, but the judge ruled the state did not prove the elements of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and acquitted him of that charge, which carries the stiffest penalty of three to 10 years in prison.

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