A New York doctor accused of filming himself drugging, raping and sexually abusing women, including hospital patients, has been indicted on new charges after another alleged victim came forward.
Zhi Alan Cheng, 34, who was handcuffed and dressed in a beige prison-issued T-shirt and pants, appeared in Queens Supreme Court on Thursday, where he was arraigned for a third time on sexual assault allegations.
The latest charges accuse him of drugging and ‘digitally penetrating’ a 48-year-old woman who was scheduled to undergo a gastrointestinal procedure at New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital in November 2021.
He pleaded not guilty to the additional charges of first and second degree sexual abuse and Superior Court Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant remanded him in custody.
Cheng was hit with 61 charges relating to the sexual assault and illegal surveillance of six women in August and is accused of assaulting three female hospital patients between the ages of 19 and 47 from June 2021 to May 2022.
Zhi Alan Cheng, 34, who was handcuffed and dressed in a beige prison-issued T-shirt and pants, appeared in Queens Supreme Court on Thursday, where he was arraigned for a third time on sexual assault allegations
The latest charges accuse him of drugging and ‘digitally penetrating’ a 48-year-old woman who was scheduled to undergo a gastrointestinal procedure at New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital in November 2021
While four other women have alleged that he drugged and sexually abused them in his Queens apartment between 2020 and 2022.
A woman recently came forward with the claims that she woke up to find Cheng ‘digitally penetrating her’.
Digital penetration is defined as the use of fingers to sexually penetrate a person’s vagina or anus.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Regan told the court the doctor was identified in a photo lineup on Feb. 22.
Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, said: ‘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 describes 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.”
Nicholas Liakas, representing alleged victims in the case, said: ‘Another victim has come forward, which we expected when this first came to light.
“The fear here is that there will be more victims coming forward throughout the process of this case and we encourage them to do so.
“Many months ago, one of the first victims was not aware that she had been raped until she was shown a video by the prosecution, and we fear that there may be many more of this kind.
‘The hospital failed on several levels. It could have been prevented or once it happened it could have been properly investigated.
“If it had been investigated at that time, he would have been suspended, his license would have been revoked at that time. It would have prevented a further assault that we know of’.
Cheng’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Einhorn, said it was still too early to comment on the case.
Pictured: Judge Pandit-Durant in court on Thursday
Cheng, of Broadway in Astoria, has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces
Cheng attended Albany Medical College in the 2010s before completing his residency at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. He obtained his medical license in New York in June 2020
Attorney Nicholas Liakas speaks to the media after the hearing Thursday
District Attorney Katz described Cheng as a ‘serial rapist’ and a ‘sexual predator of the absolute worst kind’ when he was arraigned in August.
The troubling allegations emerged after a female acquaintance of Cheng uncovered the videos and was shocked to see footage of herself and other women being assaulted by the doctor.
In December 2022, 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 claim, and Cheng was arrested and fired from New York Presbyterian Hospital in Queens, Long Island.
After the alleged attack, Cheng’s home was searched and police found drugs including fentanyl, ketamine, LSD and several anesthetics typically used in surgeries, plus devices with dozens of other recordings in his home.
In one case, Cheng is accused of filming himself groping a 37-year-old patient while she was unconscious at Queens Hospital in 2021.
A woman recently came forward to authorities with claims she woke up to find Cheng ‘digitally penetrating her’
Cheng’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Einhorn, said it was still too early to comment on the case
A short time later, prosecutors said, he raped a woman he met on a dating app and filmed the attack.
In the video, a small brown bottle was visible on his bed, according to authorities, who said they recovered a similar bottle from his apartment containing a powerful anesthetic.
In the same year, he is accused of raping a 19-year-old girl who went to the hospital the day before she was supposed to have her gall bladder removed.
She said Cheng unexpectedly injected her with a drug that made her fall asleep and ‘when she woke up, the doctor was no longer in the room’.
The patient said she began to experience ‘extreme pain in (her) lower abdomen.’
She and her mother both feared she might have been sexually assaulted, but she told social workers specializing in sexual assault that she did not know what had happened while she was unconscious.
The teenager told hospital authorities and did not charge him with rape, but medical staff took the claim seriously: checking surveillance camera footage and access to key cards, and staged a line-up at the hospital where she identified Cheng.
The doctor pleaded not guilty. He has previously been pictured in court
The fired New York Presbyterian Hospital gastroenterologist looked dejected as he stared at the ground during an earlier court hearing
Liakas, the teenager’s lawyer, said the investigation into the incident stalled and he has since filed a civil lawsuit against the hospital.
He said it ‘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 received and refusing to call the police .’
New York-Presbyterian did not comment on the teenager’s claims, but expressed outrage at Cheng’s alleged behavior.
‘The crimes committed by this individual are heinous, despicable and a fundamental betrayal of our mission and the trust of our patients. We are shocked and deeply saddened by what these victims and their families have endured,’ the statement read.
The hospital said Cheng was fired after New York-Presbyterian learned of the criminal rape.
“In December 2022, as soon as the district attorney brought allegations of sexual abuse against this individual to our attention, he was immediately exonerated, barred from hospital property and terminated,” the hospital said.
“We have cooperated fully with the Queens District Attorney’s office, the NYPD and the NYS Department of Health.”
Cheng attended Albany Medical College in the 2010s and later completed his residency at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco.
He obtained his medical license in New York in June 2020 and worked as a gastroenterologist at New York Presbyterian Queens hospital before being fired in December 2022 following the allegations.