HAMILTON, Ohio – Jury selection began Monday for the first of two twin brother pediatricians charged with sex and drug crimes against minors, some of them former patients.
Assistant Prosecutor Lance Salyers has said Mark Blankenburg and his brother used their medical practices to provide them with victims and with money for sex acts or bribes.
The 53-year-old doctors have practiced in Butler County for more than 20 years, and authorities said the alleged abuses date back to 1987. The county is located about 30 miles north of Cincinnati.
Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth last month separated additional pornography charges involving young boys from Mark Blankenburg's current trial charges. A second trial date on the pornography charges has not been set.
Blankenburg's twin, Dr. Scott Blankenburg, faces a separate trial in April.
Mark Blankenburg was first indicted on 36 felony counts in December. A dual indictment in March included more counts and accused him of committing sex acts on minors, providing them with prescription drugs, paying them for sex, money laundering and bribing them not to tell authorities.
His trial is expected to last about two weeks.
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