A New York City doctor reportedly admitted to groping sedated patients and raping drugged women he met on dating sites — which he often filmed — during a Monday court hearing in which he pleaded guilty.
Zhi Alan Cheng — a Queens doctor who has been held in jail without bail since 2022, when he was arrested — pleaded guilty to four counts of rape and three counts of sexual abuse on Monday, according to a report by the New York Post.
The 35-year-old owned up to sexually assaulting seven women, as well as struck an Alford plea — which refers to admitting criminal guilt while maintaining innocence — to another count of sexual abuse from allegations derived from an eighth woman.
“The level of violence and perversion displayed by Zhi Alan Cheng in sexually abusing multiple victims is compounded by the fact that he took an oath to do no harm as a medical professional,” Queens district attorney Melinda Katz said.
Cheng was employed at New York-Presbyterian Queens, where he reportedly worked as a gastroenterologist — until late 2022, after a girlfriend claimed he knocked her unconscious in his apartment by using a surgical mask stuffed with drug-soaked cotton balls.
The victim later contacted prosecutors, after she found video footage showing herself and other women being sexually assaulted by Cheng, prosecutors said.
After obtaining a search warrant for the doctor’s home, authorities discovered several horrifying videos, including footage featuring Cheng groping sedated women as young as 19 in the hospital, the New York Post reported.
Additional footage showed the gastroenterologist raping unconscious women — who appeared to be drugged — in his home, with some of the victims being people who had met him from dating apps.
Cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine, LSD, MDMA, as well as propofol and sevoflurane — drugs used for sedation — were also found in Cheng’s apartment, prosecutors said.
Cheng’s ability to practice medicine was then suspended by state officials while his case made its way through court.
The doctor’s sentencing is scheduled for August 28, at which point prosecutors expect he will be hit with a 24-year prison term.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
