Borough Doctor Indicted on New Sex Abuse Charges

By Michael V. Cusenza

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Dr. Zhi Alan Cheng was arraigned on Thursday on an indictment charging him with sexually abusing a patient at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens hospital in Flushing.

Cheng, 34, of Astoria, was previously charged in a 50-count indictment handed up in August 2023, accused of sexually abusing three patients in the hospital and drugging and raping three other women in his Queens home, as well as with filming each of the assaults. He had also been indicted in December 2022 for allegedly raping a female acquaintance in his apartment.

The latest indictment comes after another victim came forward. In all, more than 60 charges have been filed against Cheng.

While in Cheng’s residence, Apartment Victim 1 came across videos depicting her and other women being assaulted by the doctor. Afterward, in December, Apartment Victim 1’s attorney approached the Queens District Attorney’s office with this information.

A search warrant executed at Cheng’s home last year led to the seizure of numerous digital media storage devices containing videos of unconscious female hospital patients, as well as Cheng’s female acquaintances. Also seized were narcotics, including fentanyl, ketamine, cocaine, LSD and MDMA, as well as drugs used in health care settings for sedation, such as propofol and sevoflurane.

The borough gastroenterologist was indicted by a grand jury and arraigned Thursday on charges of sexual abuse in the first and second degrees.

When he was arrested on Dec. 27, 2022, Cheng’s license to practice medicine was suspended by the state. He has been held without bail since then.

According to the newest charges:

A 48-year-old woman went to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens hospital in November 2021 with a condition that required a gastrointestinal procedure.

The victim was sedated during the procedure, after which she awoke to find Dr. Cheng digitally penetrating her.

Katz has characterized Cheng as “a sexual predator of the absolute worst kind.”

“What we have heard from the victims and seen in the videos is the shocking and horrifying exploitation of women at their most vulnerable. Taken together, the evidence details the repeated attacks of a sexual predator who time and again betrayed his sworn professional oath and the trust of women who were unable to defend themselves,” Katz said before urging women who believe they may have been victimized to contact her office’s Special Victims Bureau at (718) 286-6505 or SpecialVictims@queensda.org.

Videos of other women being sexually assaulted were also recovered with the conduct taking place in Cheng’s Queens apartment and in Westchester County, Manhattan, Las Vegas and in and around San Francisco and in Thailand.

“The crimes committed by this individual are heinous, despicable, and a fundamental betrayal of our mission and our patients’ trust,” a spokesperson for New York-Presbyterian said in a statement sent to Inside Edition Digital. “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.”

If convicted, Cheng faces multiple 25-years-to-life sentences.