By Forum Staff
A borough physician who lived a double life as a vicious sexual deviant recently pleaded guilty to assaulting acquaintances and female hospital patients.
Zhi Alan Cheng, 35, filmed the abuse of his unconscious victims in both his apartment and at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens hospital in Flushing.
Cheng, of Astoria, pleaded guilty to four counts of rape in the first degree and three counts of sexual abuse in the first degree in satisfaction of the consolidated indictments against him. He additionally entered an Alford plea to one count of sexual abuse.
The Hon. Ushir Pandit-Durant is expected to sentence Cheng to 24 years in prison on Aug. 28.
Cheng has been held without bail since his initial arrest in 2022. His ability to practice medicine has been suspended by the State.
Cheng was arrested on Dec. 27, 2022, for raping a female acquaintance at his apartment. The woman – Apartment Victim 1 – discovered videos depicting her and other women being assaulted by the doctor. The woman’s attorney approached the Queens District Attorney’s office with this information.
An investigation was launched by the Queens District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, working with New York-Presbyterian Queens where Cheng was employed.
A search warrant executed at Cheng’s home led to the seizure of numerous digital media storage devices that contained videos of him sexually abusing unconscious female hospital patients, as well as Cheng’s female acquaintances. Also seized were quantities of fentanyl, ketamine, cocaine, LSD and MDMA – as well as drugs used in health care settings for sedation, such as propofol and sevoflurane.
According to the evidence:
Hospital Victim 1: Cheng recorded himself groping the breast and genitals of a 19-year-old sedated female patient at the hospital around June 2021.
Hospital Victim 2: Cheng recorded himself groping the breasts and genitals of a 47-year-old woman who was seriously ill and unconscious around May 2022.
Hospital Victim 3: Cheng recorded himself groping the breasts and genitals of a sedated 37-year-old woman who was a hospital patient sometime between March 2021 and June 2021.
Hospital Victim 4: A 48-year-old woman went to New York-Presbyterian Queens in November 2021 with a condition that required a gastrointestinal procedure. The victim was sedated during the procedure, after which she awoke to find Cheng digitally penetrating her.
Apartment Victim 2: A woman who met Cheng through an online dating site was seen on videos recorded around July 2021 apparently unconscious in Cheng’s bed as he engaged in sexual conduct with her. She appeared to have a tissue over her face in some videos. A brown bottle was seen on the bed similar to the bottle containing the anesthetic sevoflurane that was seized from his home. The woman had no memory of the events.
Apartment Victim 3: A woman who met Cheng through an online dating site in the spring of 2022 was seen on numerous videos in his bedroom. She was apparently unconscious as Cheng engaged in acts of sexual intercourse and other sexual abuse. She had no memory of the events.
Apartment Victim 4: A female acquaintance of Cheng’s, who spent several nights at his apartment from 2020 to 2022, was seen on videos apparently unconscious as Cheng committed acts of sexual intercourse and abuse. Cheng was seen handling a brown bottle similar to the bottle seized from his apartment containing the anesthetic sevoflurane. The woman had no memory of the events.
