Dr. Zhi Alan Cheng Queens doctor at NY Presbyterian Queens Hospital arrested on charges of drugging and raping female patients on camera. Victims also included females the medic was also dating. Authorities believe there are many more victims.
The unthinkable has happened and worse it was all recorded for guilty pleasure at the hands of a doctor, whose patients the doctor was sworn to protect and save.
A Queens doctor has been accused of sexually assaulting three women he was dating at his Astoria apartment as well as abusing at least three other women at a hospital.
Dr. Zhi Alan Cheng worked at New York Presbyterian Queens Hospital, and prosecutors believe are other victims they are now trying to find. Victims who trusted their fate and lives to a doctor at their most vulnerable.
Sexual predator in a white coat
Prosecutors say Cheng drugged and sexually assaulted his ‘unconscious’ patients and others over a period of years. Intransigences that the medic boldly filmed himself doing according to ABC7NY.
The investigation began last year when a woman accused Cheng of rape. Investigators searched the man’s phone only to find evidence of many more victims.
Cheng was initially arrested in December after his girlfriend claimed the doctor knocked her unconscious at his Astoria apartment using a surgical mask stuffed with cotton balls soaked in an unknown liquid, the nypost reported.
She said she didn’t remember anything when she awoke, but found a video of Cheng sexually assaulting her — along footage of him attacking other women.
In addition to discovering assault videos, prosecutors said numerous drugs including fentanyl, ketamine, LSD, and surgical anesthesia were found in Cheng’s home.
Queens gastroenterologist Dr. Zhi Alan Cheng has been accused of drugging women both in his home and inside a hospital exam room – before raping them while secretly recording pornography of the assault.https://t.co/kRTZie5GhS
— Genevieve Gluck (@WomenReadWomen) June 6, 2023
How many more victims are there?
Cheng was arraigned and indicted on three counts of rape, ten counts of predatory sexual assault, seven for sexual abuse, and four counts of assault, prosecutors announced Monday.
His alleged victims included both patients and women he was dating.
‘It’s always difficult when you find anyone is a victim. It is always difficult to find out after the fact. You know, some might have known, some might have had a feeling, some had no Idea. I can’t really talk in details about each of the victims, but I will tell you that it has been a traumatic type of case all around,’ Queens DA Melinda Katz said according to ABC7.
Some of the alleged assaults happened at the hospital, but videos show some at the doctor’s home. Prosecutors say that while they have identified some of the victims, at least six other victims on the hard drive have not yet been identified.
The worse part? Because the victims were drugged, most did not know they were assaulted.
Attorney Nicholas Liakis representing a 19-year-old woman, who prosecutors say was drugged through her IV and raped by her New York Presbyterian Gastroenterologist, Dr. Cheng – who allegedly shot the assault on his phone.
‘Having to go to the District Attorney’s office and see a video of yourself unconscious, getting assaulted, after being drugged is..you know, that’s unimaginable to deal with, so she’s taking it day by day,’ said Liakis.
‘For someone to rise to this level where you are drugging and raping a person, that doesn’t happen overnight,’ Liakas told NBC New York. ‘You have essentially a predator in a white coat.’
The 19 year old according to Liakis was assaulted by Cheng in June 2021 — more than year before his arrest — and that the hospital investigated her complaints but they went nowhere.
Sacred oath and trust
Known victims range in age from 19 to 47 years old, the nytimes reported.
New York Presbyterian fired Cheng on the spot when he was first arrested. On Monday, the hospital described its responsibility to its patients as a sacred trust.
‘As caregivers, we are responsible for the safety and well-being of our patients – it is a sacred trust. The crimes committed by this individual are heinous, despicable and a fundamental betrayal of our mission and our patients.’
New York Presbyterian says they are fully cooperating with the Queens District Attorney’s Office, the NYPD and the New York State Department of Health.
Cheng pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, and is being held without bond on Rikers Island.
He earned his medical license in June 2020, after completing his residency at San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center and earning his degree at Albany Medical College.
Investigators are hoping more people who suspect they may be a victim to come forward.
