Ohio doctor, convicted of sex crimes involving former patients, found guilty of more charges

October 28th, 2009 Man pleads guilty in TI rap crew attackCINCINNATI — The driver of a vehicle involved in an Ohio gun battle that killed a member of the rapper T.I.'s entourage during a wild highway chase has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other charges. Forty-one-year-old Padron Thomas was initially charged with murder.

October 26th, 2009 Ohio can't find doctors to offer execution adviceCOLUMBUS, Ohio — Finding medical professionals willing to advise Ohio on the best way to put condemned inmates to death is proving difficult because of ethical and professional rules, the state's top attorney said. The rules — which generally prohibit doctors, nurses and others from involvement in capital punishment — are deterring those professionals from speaking publicly or privately about alternatives to the state's lethal injection process, Attorney General Richard Cordray said.

October 21st, 2009 Men in Ohio terror case sentencedTOLEDO, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has handed down prison sentences of more than 10 years to two Toledo-area men involved in a terrorist plot that the government said targeted U.S. troops. Mohammad Amawi was sentenced to 20 years and Marwan El-Hindi was sentenced to 12 years.

October 18th, 2009 Retrial looms in murder of 2 Ohio students in Pa.WASHINGTON, Pa. — A former Pittsburgh man again faces a possible death penalty in a retrial in the shooting deaths of two Ohio college students a decade ago.

October 16th, 2009 Ohio doc guilty of sex counts; twin awaits trialHAMILTON, Ohio — A pediatrician was convicted Friday of 16 sex-related charges involving former patients as his twin brother, a pediatrician awaiting trial on similar counts, looked on and embraced his brother after the verdict. Dr. Mark Blankenburg, 53, of Hamilton, stood before the verdicts were delivered, as ordered by a judge, but sat down as they were read.

October 13th, 2009 Fla. judge orders runaway convert to return homeORLANDO, Fla. — The teenager who ran away from Ohio to Florida because she feared physical harm for converting from Islam to Christianity has been ordered back to Ohio.

October 9th, 2009 Orosi mother found guilty of child's murderVISALIA, Calif. — A central California mother accused of abandoning three newborns could face more than 22 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder and child abuse charges.

October 7th, 2009 Accuser testifies in Ohio doctor's sex-crime trialHAMILTON, Ohio — A man who claims a southwest Ohio pediatrician molested him as a teenager testified Wednesday that the doctor gave him prescription drugs and payments of up to $15,000 in exchange for keeping the sex abuse quiet. The now 24-year-old man said he was 13 when he was first sexually assaulted by 53-year-old Dr.

October 6th, 2009 Ohio woman sentenced to 8 years in cancer conDELAWARE, Ohio — An Ohio woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison for scamming family and friends out of tens of thousands of dollars by claiming her husband was sick with cancer. Thirty-year-old Melanie Chen, of Columbus, also was ordered to pay more than $792,000 in restitution to the 13 victims, plus court costs.

October 6th, 2009 More fondling charges against California dentistSAN JOSE, Calif. — A California dentist who pleaded no contest to inappropriately touching six patients now faces more serious charges.

October 6th, 2009 Prosecutor: Pediatrician molested male patientsHAMILTON, Ohio — A pediatrician performed sex acts on three teen patients during office visits, slipping them cash payments of about $200 as they left, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday. Dr. Mark Blankenburg doled out money and prescription drugs to some of the patients even after they became adults, Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Lance Salyers said in opening statements at the doctor's trial.

October 5th, 2009 Twin pediatricians fight child sex accusationsHAMILTON, Ohio — Twin brother pediatricians are going on trial on charges that for years they used their practices in a middle-class Ohio community to recruit boys for sex and bribed them not to tell authorities. Jury selection began Monday in the trial of 53-year-old Mark Blankenburg in a state court in Butler County, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati.

October 2nd, 2009 Community service for woman in fawn beating deathEUCLID, Ohio — An Ohio woman accused of beating a baby deer to death with a shovel after finding it in her flower garden has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service. Seventy-six-year-old Dorothy Richardson of the Cleveland suburb of Euclid pleaded no contest Thursday to one misdemeanor count of animal abuse and was found guilty by a municipal court judge, who also ordered Richardson to pay a $500 fine.

September 30th, 2009 2 plead guilty to starving 4-year-old in Miss.FOREST, Miss. — A grandmother and an aunt pleaded guilty Tuesday to starving to death a 4-year-old boy who weighed only 19 pounds when he was found last year at his home in central Mississippi.

September 18th, 2009 Judge benches Ohio athlete as part of sentenceHAMILTON, Ohio — A standout Ohio athlete has been ordered to stay on the sidelines after pleading guilty to felonious assault. Nineteen-year-old Dwayne "Deejay" Hunter was sentenced to 180 days in jail, 500 hours of community service and five years of probation.