EXCLUSIVE NYC doctor, 33, charged with drugging six female patients with powerful anesthesia before raping them is seen with his head down in court – as DA calls him a ‘serial rapist’
- Zhi Alan Cheng, 33, appeared at Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday wearing brown prison slacks with round spectacles and a blue Covid face covering
- Melinda Katz, the Queens DA described Cheng as a ‘serial rapist’ and ‘sexual predator of the worst kind’ when he was slapped with 61 counts in August
- The New York Presbyterian gastroenterologist appeared downcast as he fixed his eyes on the ground during the five-minute hearing in Long Island, NY
A New York doctor accused of filming himself drugging and raping women around the world – including the hospital where he worked – has been seen in court.
Zhi Alan Cheng, 33, appeared at Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday wearing brown prison slacks with round spectacles and a blue Covid face covering in exclusive DailyMail.com photographs.
Though his full expression was obscured by the mask, the fired New York Presbyterian Hospital gastroenterologist looked downcast as he fixed his eyes on the ground during the five-minute hearing.
Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, described Cheng as a ‘serial rapist’ and a ‘sexual predator of the absolute worst kind’ when he was slapped with 61 counts against six women in August.
Cheng, of Broadway in Astoria, has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which involve allegations from three female hospital patients ranging in age from 19 to 47, between June 2021 and May 2022. If convicted he could face life in jail.
Zhi Alan Cheng, a New York doctor accused of filming himself drugging and raping women around the world – including the hospital where he worked – has been seen in court
Cheng, 33, appeared at Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday wearing brown prison slacks with round spectacles and a blue Covid face covering in exclusive DailyMail.com photographs
Cheng, of Broadway in Astoria, has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which involve allegations from three female hospital patients ranging in age from 19 to 47, between June 2021 and May 2022
Four more women, of undisclosed ages, have accused Cheng of drugging and sexually abusing them in his Queens apartment between 2020 and 2022.
Prosecutors also believe he has also raped women in Manhattan, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Thailand after videos of the assault were seized from his phone.
The sordid allegations came to light after a female acquaintance of Cheng’s unearthed the videos, and was appalled to see footage of herself and other women being assaulted by the doctor.
In December, she formally accused Cheng of using a K-N95 mask filled with cotton balls soaked in liquid to knock her out before raping her.
Police began investigating her allegation, and Cheng was arrested and fired from New York Presbyterian Hospital in Queens, Long Island.
Following the alleged December 2022 attack, Cheng’s home was raided and police found drugs including fentanyl, ketamine, LSD and several anesthetics typically used in surgeries, plus devices with dozens of other recordings at his home.
In one case, Cheng is accused of filming himself groping a 37-year-old patient as she lay unconscious at the Queens hospital in 2021.
A short time later, prosecutors said, he raped a woman whom he met on a dating app and filmed the attack.
Cheng attended Albany Medical College in the 2010s before completing his residency at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. He obtained his New York medical license in June 2020
Nicholas Liakas, representing the 19-year-old accuser, is suing the hospital for failing to report the June 2021 attack to the police
Though his full expression was obscured by the mask, the fired New York Presbyterian Hospital gastroenterologist looked downcast as he fixed his eyes on the ground during the five-minute hearing
In the video, a small brown bottle was visible on his bed, according to the authorities, who said they had recovered a similar bottle from his apartment that contained a powerful anesthetic.
That same year, he is accused of raping a 19-year-old girl who went to the hospital the day before she was scheduled to have her gall bladder removed.
She said Cheng unexpectedly injected her with a substance that made her fall asleep and ‘when she woke up [the] doctor was no longer in [the] room’.
The patient said she began experiencing ‘extreme pain to [her] lower abdomen.’
She and her mother both feared she could have been sexually assaulted, but she told social workers specializing in sexual assault she did not know what had happened while she was unconscious.
The teenager told hospital authorities, and did not accuse him of rape, but medical staff took the allegation seriously: checking surveillance camera footage and key card access, and staged a line-up in the hospital where she identified Cheng.
Nicholas Liakas, the teenager’s attorney, said the investigation into the incident ground to a halt, and he has since filed a civil suit against the hospital.
‘That investigation, if you want to call it, hit a dead end,’ he told NBC 4 News.
He told the channel the hospital ‘conspired to cover up her assault by failing to tell her what had happened, failing to test or treat her for the illegal and dangerous injection of drugs she had been given, and refusing to call the police.’
Prosecutors believe Cheng has also raped women in Manhattan, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Thailand after videos of the assault were seized from his phone
Cheng’s attorney, Jeffrey Einhorn, said previously it was ‘too early’ to comment on the case
The doctor pleaded not guilty, and is being held on Rikers Island
New York-Presbyterian would not comment on the 19-year-old’s allegations, but expressed outrage at his alleged behavior.
‘The crimes committed by this individual are heinous, despicable, and a fundamental betrayal of our mission and our patients’ trust. We are appalled and deeply saddened by what these victims and their families have endured,’ the statement read.
The hospital said Cheng was fired six months ago, after New York-Presbyterian learned of the criminal rape indictment.
‘In December 2022, as soon as the District Attorney made us aware of allegations of sexual abuse against this individual, he was immediately placed off duty, banned from hospital property, and terminated,’ the hospital said.
‘We have been fully cooperating with the Queens District Attorney’s office, the NYPD, and the NYS Department of Health.’
Cheng’s attorney, Jeffrey Einhorn, said on Monday it was ‘too early’ to comment on the case.
The doctor pleaded not guilty, and is being held on Rikers Island.
District Attorney Katz urges women who think they may have been victimized to contact her office’s Special Victims Bureau, at (718) 286-6505, or [email protected].
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