Ordinarily parents would have no hesitation in taking their child to see a pediatrician. However, in the case of Dr. Mark Blankenburg, 53, prosecutors have raised serious doubts as to whether he was practicing medicine or was using his medical license to practice pedophilia.
Dr. Mark Blankenburg of Hamilton, Ohio has been charged with 54 offenses, ranging from gross sexual imposition to bribery to drug trafficking and various other offenses. His bail was set at $1 million. He is accused of abusing four young boys all between the ages of 8 and 15. Most of the offenses occurred in his office while conducting medical examinations.
Dr. Mark Blankenburg's twin brother, Scott - who is also a pediatrician - with whom he shares a house, was also charged with a total of 22 counts,including multiple counts of child abuse. His bail was set at $500,00. Both brothers are charged with possession of child pornography also found inside their home.
Prosecutors allege that the brothers engaged in a long term pattern of sexual abuse of young boys stretching back as far of 1990. The victims would be offered money and drugs to keep the abuse quiet. They each face separate trials. The trial of Dr. Mark Blankenburg is ongoing. His brother Scott's trial is scheduled for April of next year.
One patient says Blankenburg, who was also his Little League coach, began molesting him when he was 13 and gave him $200.
Another patient was 14 or 15 when Blankenburg molested him and stuck $200 in his hand as he left an examining room. A third was about 14 when he was assaulted and also given money, he said.
A fourth has said he was around 8 years old when Blankenburg first fondled him.
Melissa Huckaby, 28, accused in the death of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, will likely face the death penalty. She was indicted in July on charges of murdering her daughter's playmate and drugging two other people.
Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said he will seek the death penalty. He is seeking a speedy trial because younger witnesses he may call to testify will have a harder time remembering specifics about what happened.
Huckaby is charged with kidnapping and murdering Sandra, according to the indictment, along with lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and rape by instrument.
A gag order has been placed on all parties involved in the case by Superior Court Judge Linda L. Lofthus, who has also sealed documents in the case, including the autopsy and toxicology reports and documents relating to a defense motion to exhume Sandra's body.
In addition to the murder of Sandra Cantu, Melissa Huckaby faces charges that she attempted to poison two other people: a 7-year-old girl, identified only as "Jane M. Doe" and a Daniel Plowman. She is also charged with child abuse related to the 7-year-old-girl who was "in her care and custody." She is scheduled to appear again in court of Sept. 25.
It is not unusual to hear in the news about victims of brutal attacks. This story however shows the depths of depravity and inhumanity that some people are capable of perpetrating on others. The various acts of torture, abuse and forced sexual activity are in themselves cause to recoil; but the realization that neither the victims nor the attackers had even reached puberty should make each and every one of us pause and say --- WTF!!?!
Two brothers in Britain aged 10 and 12, from the town of Edlington, near Doncaster, pleaded guilty to luring two young boys, aged 9 and 10, into a secluded area of woodland and ravines to see some animals — and then torturing them in an attack so violent it left one of the victims pleading to be left alone to die.
The two young boys were robbed, beaten with sticks and stones, stabbed, burned with cigarettes, forced to eat nettles, had their genitals stomped on, forced to have sex with each other and told to commit suicide as part of their grotesque torture.
Prosecutors charged the two aggressors with attempted murder but, so as to spare the two young victims the further trauma of having to testify in court, accepted lesser charges of robbery, intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
This was not the first time the brothers had been in trouble. They in fact both had a history of violence. The 12-year-old had already appeared in court four times for acts of violence. His younger brother had been reprimanded for a variety of crimes, including assault.
The names of all the boys involved have been withheld due to their ages. However, in my opinion, the crimes that the two brothers committed were so horrible and adult-like that their names and addresses should be made public and published so that the world can be wary of two monsters that walk among us.
Below is a copy the news report widely distributed in the media.
9/3/2009, 9:20 p.m. EDT
RAPHAEL G. SATTER
The Associated Press
(AP) — LONDON - A pair of British brothers pleaded guilty Thursday to luring two young boys into a clearing to see some animals-and then torturing them in an attack so violent it left one of the victims pleading to be left alone to die.
The attackers, aged 10 and 11 at the time, robbed, beat, and stabbed their victims with sticks and bricks. One child, aged 10, had a sink thrown on to his head, while his nephew, aged 9, was forced to eat nettles. At one point the young tormentors tried to force the victims to have sex with each another.
None of the children can be named for legal reasons.
So violent was the attack that prosecutors charged the aggressors with attempted murder-making them some of the youngest ever accused of such a crime in Britain. Media here compared the case to the shocking death of James Bulger, a 2-year-old abducted from a shopping center near Liverpool in 1993 by two 10-year-olds who punched him, beat him with bricks and hit him with an iron bar before leaving his body on a railroad track.
Britain's prime minister weighed in, calling the case "disturbing."
The pair denied attempted murder, but admitted lesser charges of robbery, intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and causing a child to engage in sexual activity. Prosecutors at Sheffield Crown Court, in northern England, said they would accept the pleas, in part to spare the young victims the ordeal of a trial.
The April 4 assault came to light when a group of girls in the former English mining town of Edlington found the 9-year-old stumbling around, spattered in blood, with a cut on his arm which went down to the bone. His uncle was later found unconscious, naked from the waist down, with a large cut to the head and bruising around his neck.
Prosecutor Graham Measures told an earlier hearing that the younger boy said he and his uncle went to a secluded area of woodland and ravines with the brothers, who said they wanted to show them some toads and foxes.
It was then that the brothers turned on their victims, stealing a small amount of cash and a cell phone. They then began beating them with sticks and bricks, at one point stabbing the younger child in the arm and then jamming cigarettes into the gaping wound. His genitals were stamped on, and his eyelids were burned with cigarettes. He was forced to smoke, eat nettles and then ordered to commit suicide.
He said he then picked up a stick and put it into his mouth to convince his attackers he was harming himself.
The uncle received even harsher treatment, having a broken sink smashed against his head and a noose rung around his neck. The younger brother told police that his uncle pleaded with the attackers, saying: "Leave me, I can't see. Leave me to die."
The 9-year-old said the attack only ended when the brothers said they had to go to meet their stepfather-although one brother warned his sibling that they should not leave before killing their victims.
The brothers had a history of violence. The 11-year-old, now 12, had already appeared in court four times for acts of violence. His younger brother had been reprimanded for a variety of crimes, including assault.
They lived with five other male siblings and their 36-year-old mother in a run-down home on a different part of town before being moved to a foster home in Edlington about a month before the attack.
People who work with the mentally disabled, children and other vulnerable members of society are placed in a position of special trust. To violate that position in any way is something that should be dealt with swiftly and unequivocally.
Wheeler was employed at the Somers Manor Nursing Home located at 189 Route 100, Somers, N.Y. as a recreational leader. On the day in question (Aug. 17) she was off duty and had returned to her workplace. At about 6pm she was caught by a staff member having sexual relations with a 60-year-old male patient, a resident of the home, who suffers from severe mental defects.
The police were called in and Wheeler was arrested. Investigators are not sure whether this was a one-time occurrence or if there has been a history of sexual contact with this patient or any others.
"Our investigation so far is only revealing this incident," state police Investigator Jennifer Hahl said. "The only reason we know about this incident was because a staff member walked in on it."
Investigation is difficult because many of the patients in the home suffer from dementia and other mental conditions. Wheeler has been fired from her job. She was arraigned before the Honorable Michael McDermot and was subsequently remanded to Westchester County Jail and later released on $3,000 bail. She is scheduled to reappear in the Town of Somers Court on 08/24/09 at 5:30 pm.
Any further questions in relation to this arrest should be directed to Investigator J. Hahl of the New York State Police Somers Bureau of Criminal Investigation Office.
Rape - no matter how one tries to justify it - is Rape. It is a brutal, forced violation of one's body. It is wrong and there is no excuse for it. That being said, the following story does have a certain comedic value to it, which nevertheless does not detract from its seriousness.
32-year-old Valeria K. is described as a quiet, good-looking woman from the Russian city of Tambov, about 300 miles south-east of Moscow. She had two well-known hobbies. She was a devoted collector of horror movies and spiders. She was known as the Black Widow.
Valeria K. also had another pastime that was her own little secret. She liked to rape men but in order to assure their "complete cooperation" with her plans, she would make sure to drug them first. Her drug of choice - clonidine - a powerful medication used to treat high blood pressure, ADHD and can ease withdrawal symptoms associated with narcotic use. One side effect of clonidine is drowsiness.
Valeria K. was arrested by the police and accused of drugging 10 different men and then raping them. She is now on trial.
She would meet men and, after getting acquainted with them, would lure them back to her apartment and offer them drinks - drinks laced with clonidine - that would knock them out for about 24 hours. After the men were asleep Valeria K. would go to work:
She would strip them naked, stimulate their penises and when they were sufficiently erect, she would tie a rope around the base of their organs so that they would remain erect and then proceed to rape them while they slept.
The men would eventually wake up in hospital (unsure of how they got there) being treated for clonidine poisoning and penis trauma. However, they would all remember the friendly brunette who gave them drinks, which helped police identify the woman. Of the 10 men who fell victim to Valeria K., one refused to file a complaint against her:
One of her victim’s said he wished she hadn’t sedated him. “It was great,” the man said. “I like hot women. I only wish she hadn't used the clonidine on me.”
;)
Monday, October 12, 2009 at 5:49AM 
