INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis fertility doctor accused of using his own sperm for years in artificial insemination procedures indicated Tuesday that he will plead guilty to obstruction of justice.
Dr. Donald L. Cline was charged in September 2016 with two counts of obstruction of justice after the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office became aware as many as eight people had been found to be genetic siblings by 23and Me, a private DNA analysis company.
In all eight of those cases, according to probable cause documents filed in the case, the siblings – now all adults – reported their parents had used the services of Dr. Donald Cline, who operated a fertility clinic on the northwest side of Indianapolis in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Four of those siblings eventually arranged a meeting with Cline in Greencastle, where, according to court documents, he told them he had donated his own sperm "around 50 times" during the course of his career to women looking to get pregnant.
Cline allegedly told the siblings at that meeting that his wife had been supportive of what he’d done, and that he felt that “he was helping women because they really wanted a baby.”
Following that meeting, four of the siblings filed a complaint with the Indiana Attorney General’s Office asking for an investigation into Cline’s medical practices.
As part of that investigation, the Attorney General's Office offered Cline the opportunity to provide a written response. In that response, Cline claimed he did not use a single donor for more than three successful pregnancies and that he eventually switched to using frozen sperm from Follas Laboratories in Indianapolis. He also said he never used his own sperm.
It was those statements that drew the obstruction of justice charges last year.
On Tuesday, Cline appeared in Marion County court to indicate that he will plead guilty in the case – although it was not immediately clear whether he will plead to one or both charges or an amended charge.
A change of plea hearing was set in the case for Dec. 14.
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