A physician has been handed a 24-year prison sentence for a series of appalling sexual assaults that he recorded while his victims were under sedation. The assaults occurred at both his residence and the hospital where he was employed. Zhi Alan Cheng, aged 35, admitted to four counts of rape and seven counts of sexual assault.
These despicable crimes led to his prohibition from practicing medicine in the future. The misconduct came to light in 2022 when a female acquaintance found a video of Cheng assaulting her while she was unconscious at his home. Subsequently, the police arrested Cheng, searched his residence, and discovered significant evidence of his offenses, including liquid anaesthetic and additional videos of him assaulting sedated women.
Cheng, a gastroenterologist at New York-Presbyterian Queens, was charged with over 50 criminal offenses, according to the Queen’s District Attorney. Melinda Katz, the Queen’s District Attorney, condemned Cheng’s actions as heinous, involving sexual assaults on both intimate partners and vulnerable patients seeking medical assistance at the hospital.
As a consequence of his crimes, Cheng received a sentence of more than two decades in prison, with a decade of post-release supervision and a requirement to register as a sex offender possibly for life. Katz expressed gratitude to the NYPD Special Victims Squad and the Special Victims Bureau for their diligent efforts in the case. She also commended the courageous survivor who initially reported Cheng’s crimes and the other victims who aided in ensuring the safety of women in the future.
In addition to pleading guilty to 11 charges, Cheng entered an Alford Plea, acknowledging that there was sufficient evidence for conviction without admitting guilt. Prosecutors revealed that the hospital cooperated with the investigation against Cheng and noted that many victims had no recollection of the crimes due to sedation.
Despite this, one victim recalled waking up during an assault after being sedated for a gastrointestinal procedure.