Gronbeck also pleaded no contest to a second bill of information, including 12 counts of gross patient neglect.
The first bill of information designates gross patient neglect a misdemeanor. However, a second entry of no contest raises the second set of charges to the level of a fifth-degree felony, according to court documents.
The count of attempted patient abuse, according to court documents, indicates that on one occasion, Gronbeck inappropriately used medication “in quantities that preclude habilitation and treatment of a patient,” or inappropriately restrained a patient in the course of treating them.
Gronbeck was sentenced to five years of probation for the first set of charges, but has not been sentenced for the second set, pending a “pre-sentencing investigation,” according to the plea agreement.
The court retains the right to impose additional sanctions on Gronbeck once the pre-sentencing investigation is completed, and a second sentencing hearing will be scheduled, court documents show.
Both the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office and Gronbeck’s attorney, Jon Paul Rion, declined to comment. The prosecutor’s office cited a gag order in the case.
Gronbeck declined to make a statement before visiting Judge Dennis Langer at his change of plea hearing Thursday afternoon.
“The court on both of these charges orders Mr. Gronbeck to serve a period of up to five years of community control sanctions. This is the judgment and sentence of the court,” Langer said.
Gronbeck, of Bath Twp., was arrested in October 2022 and indicted on 50 charges of sex crimes, allegedly committed when he worked at the former Yellow Springs Primary Care, which is now shut down.
Gronbeck’s medical license was permanently revoked in January of 2022 amid accusations of sexual misconduct against his patients. He was accused of several acts of sexual misconduct with eight patients under his care between 2013 and 2022, filings from the State Medical Board of Ohio show.
Documents from the state medical board further accuse Gronbeck of writing a patient a prescription for Rivastigmine patches, commonly used to treat Alzheimer’s and dementia, and then instructing her to hand out the patches to his employees.
Gronbeck is also facing several ongoing civil lawsuits in addition to the criminal case.
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