Former Ohio College Physician Charged With 50 Counts of Rape, Sex Crimes

Undated photo of Donald Gronbeck. Greene County Ohio

A former physician in Ohio has been charged with 50 counts of rape, sexual battery, and other sex crimes involving 15 women.

Donald Gronbeck, 42, was indicted in Greene County by a grand jury. The 50 charges include felony and misdemeanor charges, including nine counts of rape between 2017 and 2021.

Gronbeck was arrested on Oct. 21 and had been held in the Green County Jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 27.

At at a news briefing on Oct. 24, a Greene County sheriff’s detective said that the investigation of Gronbeck was triggered by complaints from patients.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost at the news briefing called the allegations against Gronbeck “an incredibly graphic and brutal betrayal of trust.” He added that one of the victims recorded a portion of the acts committed by Gronbeck.

However, Gronbeck’s attorney John Paul Rion said that “there is definitely another version of the events as told by the prosecutor’s office.”

Gronbeck previously served as the campus physician at Antioch College in southwest Ohio from 2015 through 2019. He also had a medical practice in Yellow Springs, where the school is located. Gronbeck himself had received his undergraduate degree from Antioch in 2002.

The former physician surrendered his medical license in February 2022 after he was suspended by the State Medical Board of Ohio in late January, based on complaints from eight female patients (pdf) about his sexual misconduct between January 2013 and January 2022, including having been engaged in a sexual relationship with a patient.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Gronbeck’s Yellow Springs practice in January 2022 after the emergence of the eight women’s complaints.

Antioch College President Jane Fernandes said in a statement in January: “Antioch College unequivocally condemns sexual violence of any nature and we are working with local authorities to provide information and help ensure that a full accounting is made of any harms done as a result of Dr. Gronbeck’s work for the College.”

At the time, she also said the college would be working with local authorities to “provide information and help ensure that a full accounting is made of any harms done” as a result of Gronbeck’s work for the college.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.