So I would love to know...has Mr. Holder followed up on his promise!
(CBS) Following a CBS News investigation on untested rape evidence, Senators asked Attorney General Eric Holder today if the Justice Department will do more to ensure that untested evidence in rape cases is processed and analyzed by crime labs.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said he was disturbed to have recently learned that despite federal funding “substantial backlogs remain.”
Holder responded, “Mr. Chairman, I not only pledge that we should, we have to work on this. For every crime that remains unsolved, there is a rapist who is potentially still out there and ready to strike again. The Justice Department looks forward to working with this committee to come up with a way in which we do away with that backlog.”
In response to the CBS News story on rape kits, the San Antonio Police Department changed its policy so it will now test all rape kits from cases where the victim did not know the attacker. The department also confirmed to CBS it will go back and test 178 kits from stranger rapes that it had not tested in the past.
The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) told CBS News that in response to the CBS story on rape kits online sessions with their National Sexual Assault Online Hotline increased by 53%.
"Stories on topics such as this have the potential to trigger difficult memories for those who have been affected by sexual violence, that's why it's critical that viewers are provided with information on how to get help, and what to do if they've been sexually assaulted," says Katherine Hull, spokesperson for RAINN.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
San Diego Has over 2,000 Untested Rape Kits!
First I would like to say that I thank God for CBS and CNN and other media outlets that make it their business to keep the public informed of what our city officials do behind close doors! It breaks my heart when I see these stories esp me being a survivor of rape. When I see these stories...I imagine that you came to my house that night...did a report, took evidence, put the evidence on a shelf and closed the case...disturbing I know but that is what I see when I read these articles. So I ask what was the purpose of spending money on law enforcement, why even come out and check the crime scene...I mean all that man power has to cost. I guess as long as I feel safe you are content but stories like these not only let me know that I am not safe but that you obviously do not care!
(CBS) CBS News has learned that the San Diego Police Department has more than 2,000 untested rape kits in storage that have not been sent to the city’s crime lab.
A CBS News investigation uncovered thousands of rape kits nationwide that had never been sent to crime labs and thousands more waiting to be tested in city and state laboratories.
“The San Diego Police Department has a remarkably good sex crimes unit, so if there’s any chance that testing a kit could lead to a successful prosecution then we test it,” said Michael Grubb, San Diego PD Crime Lab Manager. According to Grubb, the department has 2,065 rape kits in storage that were never sent to the crime lab.
"The news of untested rape kits in San Diego is more evidence that the rape kit backlog is a widespread problem across the country that requires a strong national response,” said Sarah Tofte researcher at Human Rights Watch's US Program. “Untested rape kits mean lost justice for rape victims, and San Diego must move quickly to eliminate their backlog,” she said.
Grubb said that there are currently 30 kits that have been sent to their crime lab and are waiting to be processed. He says the average turnaround time is 60 days. Grubb noted that his lab analyzes evidence for about 200 sexual assault cases each year.
Grubb told CBS News in an email that if a prosecutor is not taking the case to court, then the kit is not tested. Grubb maintains it is unnecessary to test kits in acquaintance cases where the suspect is known.
“Many times there is no question of identity, it is only a question of consent. He says it was consensual, she says it was a rape - but there is no dispute as to whose DNA will be found. In those cases, we are not asked to examine the kit,” Grubb told CBS in an email.
However, Los Angeles and New York, test all rape kits - even in cases where the suspect’s identity is not in question .
"We have lots of situations where a domestic situation or an acquaintance situation is actually an indication of the male involved responsible for other rapes,” said Dr. Mecki Prinz, laboratory director at New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner. New York City has an arrest rate of 70% for rape which is almost three times the national average.
Prinz says one case could be connected to other assaults, "One of our motives is that we would like to generate a DNA profile to compare it to other cases in our database because it is our experience that a person who is accused of a date rape or an acquaintance rape could also be the true perpetrator in another stranger case." Research has shown that 71% of rapists are serial offenders.
Los Angeles had a backlog of 12,000 untested rape kits in storage. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is now testing the kits in the backlog and has found over 405 DNA "hits" that led to suspect identifications. According to Captain Kevin McClure who runs Homicide, Robbery and all sex crimes for the LAPD, "Our rule is that all sexual assault evidence kits are tested."
Following a CBS News investigation that revealed 5,191 untested kits at the San Antonio Police Department in Texas, the department announced it will now test all kits from stranger rapes. The Department did not respond to questions as to why it was not following the lead of New York and Los Angeles and testing all rape kits.
©MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
(CBS) CBS News has learned that the San Diego Police Department has more than 2,000 untested rape kits in storage that have not been sent to the city’s crime lab.
A CBS News investigation uncovered thousands of rape kits nationwide that had never been sent to crime labs and thousands more waiting to be tested in city and state laboratories.
“The San Diego Police Department has a remarkably good sex crimes unit, so if there’s any chance that testing a kit could lead to a successful prosecution then we test it,” said Michael Grubb, San Diego PD Crime Lab Manager. According to Grubb, the department has 2,065 rape kits in storage that were never sent to the crime lab.
"The news of untested rape kits in San Diego is more evidence that the rape kit backlog is a widespread problem across the country that requires a strong national response,” said Sarah Tofte researcher at Human Rights Watch's US Program. “Untested rape kits mean lost justice for rape victims, and San Diego must move quickly to eliminate their backlog,” she said.
Grubb said that there are currently 30 kits that have been sent to their crime lab and are waiting to be processed. He says the average turnaround time is 60 days. Grubb noted that his lab analyzes evidence for about 200 sexual assault cases each year.
Grubb told CBS News in an email that if a prosecutor is not taking the case to court, then the kit is not tested. Grubb maintains it is unnecessary to test kits in acquaintance cases where the suspect is known.
“Many times there is no question of identity, it is only a question of consent. He says it was consensual, she says it was a rape - but there is no dispute as to whose DNA will be found. In those cases, we are not asked to examine the kit,” Grubb told CBS in an email.
However, Los Angeles and New York, test all rape kits - even in cases where the suspect’s identity is not in question .
"We have lots of situations where a domestic situation or an acquaintance situation is actually an indication of the male involved responsible for other rapes,” said Dr. Mecki Prinz, laboratory director at New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner. New York City has an arrest rate of 70% for rape which is almost three times the national average.
Prinz says one case could be connected to other assaults, "One of our motives is that we would like to generate a DNA profile to compare it to other cases in our database because it is our experience that a person who is accused of a date rape or an acquaintance rape could also be the true perpetrator in another stranger case." Research has shown that 71% of rapists are serial offenders.
Los Angeles had a backlog of 12,000 untested rape kits in storage. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is now testing the kits in the backlog and has found over 405 DNA "hits" that led to suspect identifications. According to Captain Kevin McClure who runs Homicide, Robbery and all sex crimes for the LAPD, "Our rule is that all sexual assault evidence kits are tested."
Following a CBS News investigation that revealed 5,191 untested kits at the San Antonio Police Department in Texas, the department announced it will now test all kits from stranger rapes. The Department did not respond to questions as to why it was not following the lead of New York and Los Angeles and testing all rape kits.
©MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
City Breakes Promise to Rape Victims
This is an article that crushed me yet again because our lovely cities and officials decide that promises are indeed made to be broken. Obviously they (officials) have not been directly affected by rape so once again victims are not given the opportunity of closure or total healing. I feel your pain survivors...I had to endure for over 20 years and just as myself...I pray your day will finally come!City Breaks its Promise to Rape Victims
by Sarah Tofte, researcher for the US Program
Published in: The Huffington Post.January 21, 2010
A crime lab analyst applies chemicals to extract the DNA from a swab that was in the rape kit.
© 2009 Patricia Williams..Related Materials: Testing Justice.Los Angeles was poised to become a national model for delivering justice to rape victims last year. The City approved a plan and funding to test the backlog of more than 7,000 sets of untested physical evidence from rape cases for DNA matches.
Then came last week's announcement that the city would not be hiring the additional crime lab personnel necessary to clear this backlog and to test every future booked set of evidence, known as a rape kit. Los Angeles may now become another sad example of how difficult it is to get politicians to live up to their promises.
Testing a rape kit can identify an unknown rapist, confirm the presence of a known suspect, corroborate the victim's version of events, or exonerate an innocent defendant. Arrest, prosecution, and conviction rates for rape cases have risen considerably in jurisdictions that have made a commitment to test every kit. But in Los Angeles, as Human Rights Watch documented in a 2009 report, the arrest rate for rape is at a historic low-only about one in five rape victims is likely to see a suspect arrested.
Last spring, after years of advocacy by victims' rights groups, the Los Angeles Police Department requested, the City Council passed, and the Mayor approved $1.4 million to erase the longstanding rape kit backlog by hiring 26 staff members for the DNA crime laboratory and outsource rape kits to private labs for testing. It was a soaring victory and was hailed as a turning point. But in a stunning reversal, city officials announced last week that they had decided behind closed doors that they would not follow through on their promise to hire new crime lab staff.
How did this happen? Well, despite continued, clear calls for transparency and oversight of the spending of the funding by advocates, the City Council has not held a full hearing on this issue since the funding was approved last spring. No written accounting of progress or spending has been requested of the LAPD by the City Council. The decision to renege on the funding approval for the crime lab personnel was made by a little known Managed Hiring Committee in a closed door meeting by unelected City representatives who clearly had little information and less understanding of the rape kit backlog and the plan to eliminate it.
The fiscal crisis is of course part of the problem. But officials knew last year, when they agreed finally to make a commitment to justice for rape victims, that these are lean times. During last year's budget hearings, the City touted the fact that this money was the only increased funding approved by the City last year. We would like to think that the decision to add funding for rape kit testing in the midst of a fiscal emergency reflected their recognition that officials must act when basic governmental duties are not being fulfilled, and testing rape kits is one of those duties. Now one wonders whether they simply hoped no one would notice that the funding was cut.
In response to news of the canceled positions, City Council President Eric Garcetti introduced a motion last week to redirect some of the funds earmarked for those positions to outsourcing rape kits to private crime labs for testing. The LAPD has made substantial progress by using outside labs to test the majority of its backlogged rape kits, but outsourcing alone will not solve the problem. By federal law, public crime lab personnel must review the test results of privately outsourced kits before the test results can be entered into the public DNA database. Even now, outsourced rape kits wait an average of 72 days after testing before they are reviewed by crime lab personnel. Unfortunately, Garcetti's motion seems to be the City's last best option to use this year's budgetary funds for rape kit testing.
Without additional crime lab personnel, this secondary backlog of kits for which testing is not complete will only grow. Until testing is complete, and the results are added to the public DNA database, and DNA matches are investigated, justice will continue to elude rape victims. The managed hiring panel could still vote to approve at least some of the 26 crime lab positions authorized by the Los Angeles City Council last year. They must approve as many positions as possible and they must do so quickly so that the LAPD can begin building their lab's capacity immediately.
The loss of the crime lab positions is a huge blow to policymakers, advocates, rape victims, and law enforcement across the country who hoped that Los Angeles would show other jurisdictions tackling their rape kit backlogs the route to success. Instead, Los Angeles is showing them the route to failure.
by Sarah Tofte, researcher for the US Program
Published in: The Huffington Post.January 21, 2010
A crime lab analyst applies chemicals to extract the DNA from a swab that was in the rape kit.
© 2009 Patricia Williams..Related Materials: Testing Justice.Los Angeles was poised to become a national model for delivering justice to rape victims last year. The City approved a plan and funding to test the backlog of more than 7,000 sets of untested physical evidence from rape cases for DNA matches.
Then came last week's announcement that the city would not be hiring the additional crime lab personnel necessary to clear this backlog and to test every future booked set of evidence, known as a rape kit. Los Angeles may now become another sad example of how difficult it is to get politicians to live up to their promises.
Testing a rape kit can identify an unknown rapist, confirm the presence of a known suspect, corroborate the victim's version of events, or exonerate an innocent defendant. Arrest, prosecution, and conviction rates for rape cases have risen considerably in jurisdictions that have made a commitment to test every kit. But in Los Angeles, as Human Rights Watch documented in a 2009 report, the arrest rate for rape is at a historic low-only about one in five rape victims is likely to see a suspect arrested.
Last spring, after years of advocacy by victims' rights groups, the Los Angeles Police Department requested, the City Council passed, and the Mayor approved $1.4 million to erase the longstanding rape kit backlog by hiring 26 staff members for the DNA crime laboratory and outsource rape kits to private labs for testing. It was a soaring victory and was hailed as a turning point. But in a stunning reversal, city officials announced last week that they had decided behind closed doors that they would not follow through on their promise to hire new crime lab staff.
How did this happen? Well, despite continued, clear calls for transparency and oversight of the spending of the funding by advocates, the City Council has not held a full hearing on this issue since the funding was approved last spring. No written accounting of progress or spending has been requested of the LAPD by the City Council. The decision to renege on the funding approval for the crime lab personnel was made by a little known Managed Hiring Committee in a closed door meeting by unelected City representatives who clearly had little information and less understanding of the rape kit backlog and the plan to eliminate it.
The fiscal crisis is of course part of the problem. But officials knew last year, when they agreed finally to make a commitment to justice for rape victims, that these are lean times. During last year's budget hearings, the City touted the fact that this money was the only increased funding approved by the City last year. We would like to think that the decision to add funding for rape kit testing in the midst of a fiscal emergency reflected their recognition that officials must act when basic governmental duties are not being fulfilled, and testing rape kits is one of those duties. Now one wonders whether they simply hoped no one would notice that the funding was cut.
In response to news of the canceled positions, City Council President Eric Garcetti introduced a motion last week to redirect some of the funds earmarked for those positions to outsourcing rape kits to private crime labs for testing. The LAPD has made substantial progress by using outside labs to test the majority of its backlogged rape kits, but outsourcing alone will not solve the problem. By federal law, public crime lab personnel must review the test results of privately outsourced kits before the test results can be entered into the public DNA database. Even now, outsourced rape kits wait an average of 72 days after testing before they are reviewed by crime lab personnel. Unfortunately, Garcetti's motion seems to be the City's last best option to use this year's budgetary funds for rape kit testing.
Without additional crime lab personnel, this secondary backlog of kits for which testing is not complete will only grow. Until testing is complete, and the results are added to the public DNA database, and DNA matches are investigated, justice will continue to elude rape victims. The managed hiring panel could still vote to approve at least some of the 26 crime lab positions authorized by the Los Angeles City Council last year. They must approve as many positions as possible and they must do so quickly so that the LAPD can begin building their lab's capacity immediately.
The loss of the crime lab positions is a huge blow to policymakers, advocates, rape victims, and law enforcement across the country who hoped that Los Angeles would show other jurisdictions tackling their rape kit backlogs the route to success. Instead, Los Angeles is showing them the route to failure.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Serial Rapist Terrify Central Texas Elderly Women...
Rapes of elderly women terrify central Texas towns 1/18/2010 9:27:00 AM
Associated Press/AP Online
By PAUL J. WEBER
YOAKUM, Texas - With a serial rapist on the loose, Cassandra McGinty has developed a new routine when she arrives home: search room to room, a handgun or stun gun drawn.
The predator has been assaulting older women in central Texas over the past year, terrifying residents and frustrating investigators who have only a vague description of the suspect.
Pepper spray has been flying off the shelves in the towns where the attacks have occurred, and McGinty said her landlord in Marquez handed out stun guns as Christmas gifts. Nearly 200 miles away in Yoakum, elderly volunteers at the local museum have been locking its doors during business hours.
"I used to think I was too old for anybody to mess with," said McGinty, 55. "I can't say that anymore."
Beginning with the rape of a 65-year-old woman in Yoakum last January, authorities have linked eight sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults to the suspect, who has been dubbed the "Twilight Rapist" because most of the attacks occurred around dawn. They also believe he robbed or attempted to rob four other women.
The victims have all been women, ranging in age from 65 to 91. One rape victim played piano at her church on Sundays. An 81-year-old woman scared off an intruder with a gun, firing several rounds for good measure. A 66-year-old woman was attacked twice, despite having moved across town following the first assault.
The attacks occurred in seven rural towns, the largest of which has 6,000 residents.
Two women were attacked - one of them twice - in Yoakum, a quiet town surrounded by wide-open ranches about 100 miles east of San Antonio.
"It does make me sick," Yoakum Police Chief Arthur Rogers said. "We all take it personal. We all visualize this could have been my mother or my grandmother."
Mela Walker, who has a ranch in nearby Cuero, organized a community meeting last spring after the Yoakum attacks and handed out pepper spray as a door prize for the nearly 300 people who showed up.
"They're freaked out," Walker said. "These elderly women are buying Mace and not knowing how to use it. They talk about buying guns, and they don't know how to use guns."
Authorities say the attacks appear to have been planned - phone lines were cut and porch lights were unscrewed outside some of the victims' homes. All the victims lived alone, and one had more than $10,000 stolen.
Yoakum residents say the two victims there had predictable routines that made them easy targets.
"Nobody opens the door for nobody anymore," said Armiro Gomez, 57, who lives across the street from one of the Yoakum victims. "After midnight, people have no rights to be walking the streets anymore."
Just across the interstate in Luling, where the last attack occurred in November, a neighbor said it's no coincidence the victim was the only woman in his retirement village with a job.
A year into the case there is still no sketch of the suspect, only a vague description of a thin, young and dark-skinned man who is between 5 1/2- and 6-feet tall. Authorities wrongly arrested one man early in their investigation, and he has since sued over it.
The assailant left behind DNA and other forensic evidence after some attacks, but authorities have not been able to link the DNA to anything in the state system, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger. In addition to the difficult task of investigating attacks that happened as far as 200 miles from each other, authorities have found that some victims don't have the best memories.
"The fact that he is targeting elderly woman at night does make it a little more difficult (to investigate)," Vinger said. "It's a traumatic situation for any age. It's even potentially more traumatic for the elderly."
Walker said a year since the first attack, the fear in Yoakum hasn't waned. Last week, volunteers took down Christmas decorations inside the Yoakum Heritage Museum.
It was the middle of the morning, but the doors were locked. Visitors were let in, one by one, and the door locked behind them.
"These are frail, elderly women. Tiny little things," Walker said. "You just can't imagine why anyone would want to take advantage of them."
---
On the Net:
Yoakum municipality: http://www.cityofyoakum.org
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
Associated Press/AP Online
By PAUL J. WEBER
YOAKUM, Texas - With a serial rapist on the loose, Cassandra McGinty has developed a new routine when she arrives home: search room to room, a handgun or stun gun drawn.
The predator has been assaulting older women in central Texas over the past year, terrifying residents and frustrating investigators who have only a vague description of the suspect.
Pepper spray has been flying off the shelves in the towns where the attacks have occurred, and McGinty said her landlord in Marquez handed out stun guns as Christmas gifts. Nearly 200 miles away in Yoakum, elderly volunteers at the local museum have been locking its doors during business hours.
"I used to think I was too old for anybody to mess with," said McGinty, 55. "I can't say that anymore."
Beginning with the rape of a 65-year-old woman in Yoakum last January, authorities have linked eight sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults to the suspect, who has been dubbed the "Twilight Rapist" because most of the attacks occurred around dawn. They also believe he robbed or attempted to rob four other women.
The victims have all been women, ranging in age from 65 to 91. One rape victim played piano at her church on Sundays. An 81-year-old woman scared off an intruder with a gun, firing several rounds for good measure. A 66-year-old woman was attacked twice, despite having moved across town following the first assault.
The attacks occurred in seven rural towns, the largest of which has 6,000 residents.
Two women were attacked - one of them twice - in Yoakum, a quiet town surrounded by wide-open ranches about 100 miles east of San Antonio.
"It does make me sick," Yoakum Police Chief Arthur Rogers said. "We all take it personal. We all visualize this could have been my mother or my grandmother."
Mela Walker, who has a ranch in nearby Cuero, organized a community meeting last spring after the Yoakum attacks and handed out pepper spray as a door prize for the nearly 300 people who showed up.
"They're freaked out," Walker said. "These elderly women are buying Mace and not knowing how to use it. They talk about buying guns, and they don't know how to use guns."
Authorities say the attacks appear to have been planned - phone lines were cut and porch lights were unscrewed outside some of the victims' homes. All the victims lived alone, and one had more than $10,000 stolen.
Yoakum residents say the two victims there had predictable routines that made them easy targets.
"Nobody opens the door for nobody anymore," said Armiro Gomez, 57, who lives across the street from one of the Yoakum victims. "After midnight, people have no rights to be walking the streets anymore."
Just across the interstate in Luling, where the last attack occurred in November, a neighbor said it's no coincidence the victim was the only woman in his retirement village with a job.
A year into the case there is still no sketch of the suspect, only a vague description of a thin, young and dark-skinned man who is between 5 1/2- and 6-feet tall. Authorities wrongly arrested one man early in their investigation, and he has since sued over it.
The assailant left behind DNA and other forensic evidence after some attacks, but authorities have not been able to link the DNA to anything in the state system, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger. In addition to the difficult task of investigating attacks that happened as far as 200 miles from each other, authorities have found that some victims don't have the best memories.
"The fact that he is targeting elderly woman at night does make it a little more difficult (to investigate)," Vinger said. "It's a traumatic situation for any age. It's even potentially more traumatic for the elderly."
Walker said a year since the first attack, the fear in Yoakum hasn't waned. Last week, volunteers took down Christmas decorations inside the Yoakum Heritage Museum.
It was the middle of the morning, but the doors were locked. Visitors were let in, one by one, and the door locked behind them.
"These are frail, elderly women. Tiny little things," Walker said. "You just can't imagine why anyone would want to take advantage of them."
---
On the Net:
Yoakum municipality: http://www.cityofyoakum.org
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
OHio Pediatrician only get 13 years in sexual abuse case...
Ohio pediatrician gets 13 years in sex abuse case 1/14/2010 3:06:00 PM
Associated Press/AP Online
By LISA CORNWELL
HAMILTON, Ohio - A pediatrician pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and six other crimes involving former patients and must serve 13 years in prison.
Scott Blankenburg, 54, also pleaded guilty to compelling prostitution, illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, complicity to obtain a dangerous drug and two counts of bribery.
He agreed to the 13-year term in a plea deal made with Butler County prosecutors in exchange for his pleas. He did not plead guilty to sex crimes involving his former patients.
He will begin serving the sentence Feb. 15. He also must pay a $7,500 fine and agreed to pay a $27,500 fine levied against his twin brother in a similar case.
The brother, Mark Blankenburg, a fellow pediatrician, was sentenced last week to 21 to 27 years in prison for sex crimes involving former patients, money laundering and drug charges.
Blankenburg, who lived in Hamilton with his brother, had offices in nearby Fairfield while his brother mostly practiced in Hamilton. They were indicted in March.
He had initially been charged with 28 counts, including sex counts involving two of his patients and two of his brother's patients.
Authorities say the unlawful sexual conduct involved a 15-year-old boy, now in his 20s, who came forward after the original indictment. Prosecutors said Scott Blankenburg performed oral sex on the teen between 2002 and 2003 and bribed him to keep quiet. Prosecutors did not give additional details on those allegations.
Additional bribery charges and drug crimes occurred as recently as last year, prosecutors said.
Mark Blankenburg still faces trial in May on pornography charges stemming from photos the brothers took of high school athletes during games. Prosecutors said some pictures, although not illegal, focused inappropriately on certain body parts
Wow...I am amazed at how they slapped him on his hands! A professional that I trusted my child with to uphold an oath...how deceitful and disappointing! I pray for these children and hope they get the healing and closure that they deserve from this!
Associated Press/AP Online
By LISA CORNWELL
HAMILTON, Ohio - A pediatrician pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and six other crimes involving former patients and must serve 13 years in prison.
Scott Blankenburg, 54, also pleaded guilty to compelling prostitution, illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, complicity to obtain a dangerous drug and two counts of bribery.
He agreed to the 13-year term in a plea deal made with Butler County prosecutors in exchange for his pleas. He did not plead guilty to sex crimes involving his former patients.
He will begin serving the sentence Feb. 15. He also must pay a $7,500 fine and agreed to pay a $27,500 fine levied against his twin brother in a similar case.
The brother, Mark Blankenburg, a fellow pediatrician, was sentenced last week to 21 to 27 years in prison for sex crimes involving former patients, money laundering and drug charges.
Blankenburg, who lived in Hamilton with his brother, had offices in nearby Fairfield while his brother mostly practiced in Hamilton. They were indicted in March.
He had initially been charged with 28 counts, including sex counts involving two of his patients and two of his brother's patients.
Authorities say the unlawful sexual conduct involved a 15-year-old boy, now in his 20s, who came forward after the original indictment. Prosecutors said Scott Blankenburg performed oral sex on the teen between 2002 and 2003 and bribed him to keep quiet. Prosecutors did not give additional details on those allegations.
Additional bribery charges and drug crimes occurred as recently as last year, prosecutors said.
Mark Blankenburg still faces trial in May on pornography charges stemming from photos the brothers took of high school athletes during games. Prosecutors said some pictures, although not illegal, focused inappropriately on certain body parts
Wow...I am amazed at how they slapped him on his hands! A professional that I trusted my child with to uphold an oath...how deceitful and disappointing! I pray for these children and hope they get the healing and closure that they deserve from this!
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