In October 2022, former Yellow Springs Primary Care physician Donald Gronbeck pleaded "not guilty" to 50 counts of sex crimes at the Greene County Common Pleas Court in Xenia. He was represented by Jon Paul Rion of Rion, Rion and Rion, L.P.A, Inc. (Photo by Jessica Thomas)
Gronbeck pleads ‘no contest’ to patient abuse, neglect
- Published: February 26, 2025
Ed. Note: The following article involves information pertaining to alleged sex crimes that some readers may find distressing.
At a hearing on Thursday, Feb. 13, former Yellow Springs physician Donald Gronbeck pleaded no contest in two separate criminal cases regarding patient abuse and neglect. He was sentenced to five years of probation.
Gronbeck, 44, of Bath Twp., was arrested in October 2022 and indicted on 50 criminal charges in connection with sex crimes allegedly committed between 2018 and 2021 when he worked at the now defunct Yellow Springs Primary Care, Inc., and Kettering Health’s Soin Medical Center in Beavercreek.
Previously, Gronbeck worked at Antioch College and volunteered for Miami Township Fire-Rescue.
According to documents from the Greene County Common Pleas Court, by entering into the “no contest” plea agreement, the state of Ohio will dismiss all charges in an indictment against Gronbeck in a criminal rape case initiated in 2022.
Gronbeck’s plea of no contest was to two separate bills of information — a charging instrument similar to an indictment. To the first, he pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor of gross patient neglect and one felony count of attempted patient abuse. To the other bill of information, the former doctor pleaded no contest to 12 felony counts of gross patient neglect.
The conditions of Gronbeck’s probation — a sentence he received following the Feb. 13 hearing, according to the clerk of courts — include a term of “community control sanctions” for a period of up to five years, with a “no contact order” between him and 14 unnamed individuals. A term of local incarceration is not to be imposed as one of the sanctions.
Presiding over last week’s plea hearing was Ohio Supreme Court Judge Dennis J. Langer; Greene County Court of Common Pleas Judges Aldolfo Tornichio and Michael Buckwalter — both of whom have presided over previous hearings and past actions regarding Gronbeck’s case — recused themselves to “avoid the appearance of impropriety,” according to at least one court document.
Though the News was unable to make contact with Gronbeck’s attorney, local resident Jon Paul Rion, ahead of press time, all those affiliated with the case are under a gag order from 2022 issued by the state prosecutor’s office.
The order states that “all attorneys, representatives, investigators and other persons associated with either party from making any public comment regarding this case until the final disposition of this case.”
Gronbeck remains the defendant in several ongoing civil cases.
The News will continue to follow this story and provide updates as they are made available.
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