US doctor, 34, who raped & videotaped patients, gets 24 years' jail

Zhi Alan Cheng, a 34-year-old gastroenterologist who drugged and sexually assaulted personal acquaintances and patients at a hospital in Queens, New York City, was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Aug. 28.

Cheng also filmed several of the attacks.

He "committed a series of heinous attacks against women"

The Queens district attorney, Melinda Katz, described the attacks by Cheng as "heinous", The New York Times (NYT) reported.

"He did so both as a private citizen, sexually assaulting women who were his intimate partners, and as a doctor, sexually assaulting vulnerable patients who came to the hospital in need of help," Katz said in a news release that announced Cheng's sentencing.

Earlier in June, Cheng pleaded guilty to four counts of rape in the first-degree and three counts of first-degree sexual abuse.

He also entered a plea where he formally pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse while maintaining his innocence.

According to court documents, as reported in CBS News, Cheng had used medical-grade sedatives to render the women unconscious before proceeding to rape them.

When asked why Cheng was granted a plea deal, the judge responded that while they acknowledged that Cheng deserved more than 24 years for his crimes, the district attorney's office did not want the victims "to suffer again" and "go through trial in front of strangers".

Cheng was arrested in 2022

NYT reported that after a police report was lodged by his then-girlfriend, which alleged that she discovered videos of him assaulting her, Cheng was arrested in December 2022.

Following this, a police search of his home found digital storage devices containing dozens of recordings of him sexually abusing his unconscious hospital patients and female acquaintances.

Drugs such as fentanyl, ketamine and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), along with other anaesthetics typically used in surgeries were also discovered.

He would drug victims before sexually assaulting them

According to NYT, one of the accusations alleged that Cheng had filmed himself groping a 27-year-old patient who was unconscious while he was on duty at New York-Presbyterian Queens medical centre.

Another accusation alleged that Cheng gave a 19-year-old woman a rectal exam that was unnecessary, and then proceeded to inject an "unknown substance" into her intravenous line, knocking her unconscious before sexually assaulting her.

The woman sued the hospital in June 2023, where she claimed that despite informing the staff at the centre about the assault, they neglected to intervene and instead covered up what had happened to her.

Cheng had more than 50 charges against him

Cheng was subsequently fired from his position at the centre and stripped of his medical licence.

He was eventually charged with more than 50 criminal counts including rape, sexual abuse, assault, misdemeanour drug possession and unlawful surveillance.

Authorities stated that Cheng's victims ranged from 19 to 47-years-old, and that he often took multiple recordings of each assault.

NYT reported that after serving his prison sentence, Cheng will be under post-release supervision for ten years, and will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Top photos from Facebook via ETtoday, NewYork-Presbytarian