NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — Dr. Zhi Alan Cheng was indicted on Thursday on new charges accusing him of sexually abusing a patient, adding to the 50-count 2023 indictment charging him in the sexual abuse of six survivors and the 2022 indictment charging him in a rape.
Thursday's indictment comes after another survivor came forward, and charges Cheng, 34, with first- and second-degree sexual abuse, prosecutors said.
According to the new charges, a woman, 48, went to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens hospital in need of a gastrointestinal procedure.
The survivor was sedated during the procedure, and she awoke to find the defendant penetrating her with his hands.
Cheng, of Astoria, will return to court on May 17. Since he was arrested on Dec. 27, 2022, Cheng has been held without bail and faces multiple 25-years-to-life sentences.
The defendant's medical license was also suspended at that time, officials said.
His 2022 arrest was in response to the alleged rape of a female acquaintance in his apartment.
Following her assault, this survivor discovered videos showing her and other women being sexually abused by the doctor; at that point, she approached the Queens District Attorney's Office.
The information led to an investigation by the Queens DA's Special Victims Bureau in connection with NewYork-Presbyterian Queens hospital, which uncovered evidence resulting in his second indictment in August 2023.
Prosecutors said that the second indictment accuses Cheng of sexually abusing three patients in the hospital and drugging and raping three other women in his Queens residence. He is also accused of filming each of the assaults.
Across all three indictments, more than 60 charges have been filed against Cheng, prosecutors 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," Queens DA Melinda Katz said. "Taken together, the evidence details the repeated attacks of a sexual predator who time and again betrayed his sworn professional oath and trust of women who were unable to defend themselves."
Anyone who believes they may have been victimized is urged to contact the Queens DA's Special Victims Bureau at 718-286-6505 or SpecialVictims@queensda.org.
