On Thursday, Nov. 17, Greene County Common Please Judge Michael Buckwalter set former Yellow Springs doctor Donald Gronbeck's bond at $1 million. Here, Gronbeck is shown at the Oct. 27 arraignment hearing at which he pleaded "not guilty" to 50 counts of sex crimes. (Photo by Jessica Thomas)
$1M bond set for Gronbeck
- Published: November 17, 2022
Following a bond hearing for former Yellow Springs doctor Donald Gronbeck on Thursday, Nov. 17, Greene County Common Pleas Judge Michael Buckwalter set Gronbeck’s bond at $1 million, with 10% down, or $100,000, for release.
The hearing, part of the ongoing case of the State of Ohio v. Gronbeck, follows last month’s arraignment, at which Gronbeck pleaded not guilty to 50 counts of sex crimes.
Should he post bail, Gronbeck will be on house arrest, confined to his Bath Township property, as the case progresses.
The conditions of Gronbeck’s house arrest prohibit him from being within 100 feet of any thoroughfare, street or right-of-way; in addition, he will not receive work privileges; his passport will be revoked; and he must submit to electronic GPS monitoring.
Thursday’s bond hearing was originally set to occur the same day as last month’s arraignment, but Gronbeck’s defense attorney, Jon Paul Rion, of Dayton-based Rion, Rion & Rion, requested that the hearing be continued until a later date because he had not yet received requested information and evidence the prosecution will use at trial.
The prosecution originally filed a request to deny Gronbeck bond, stating they believed him to be a flight risk, but filed a motion with the court on Nov. 10 to withdraw that request. Instead, at the bond hearing before Buckwalter, the team requested Gronbeck’s bail be set at $10 million, 10 times the judge’s decision.
In addition, the prosecution asked that Gronbeck’s passport be confiscated, that he be confined to the property of his Bath Township home and that he wear a GPS monitor.
Assistant Prosecutor Bill Morrison cited the number and seriousness of the accusations made against Gronbeck, the closure of his practice and the long sentence he would serve if convicted on all accused counts as reasons to believe Gronbeck might flee before trial.
“The only thing he’d be leaving behind if he were to skip town is a potential life in prison,” Morrison said. “He has every incentive to abscond.”
Rion reiterated the same argument he made at Gronbeck’s arraignment: Rion believes that, if Gronbeck were going to flee, he would have done so in the months between the police raid on his Dayton Street medical office in January and his indictment last month. Gronbeck has been held in the Greene County Jail since his arrest Oct. 21.
Rion argued that a bail amount of $50,000 to $100,000, in addition to the other measures requested by the prosecution should be “sufficient.”
“I haven’t heard of a $10 million bond in a murder case,” Rion said, punctuating his view that the prosecution’s bond request was excessive.
The News reached out to Rion following the determined $1 million bond.
“The court — with the information it had — made the best decision it could,” he said. “Percentage-wise, it seems like [the set bond] was met in the middle.”
Rion said it is uncertain whether Gronbeck would post bond immediately.
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