By SDCN Editor
San Diego, CA–A doctor who sexually assaulted four patients while they were under anesthesia, was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said.
Leng Ky, 43 pleaded guilty to three counts of sexually assaulting an unconscious victim and one count of sexual battery by restraint on January 26, the day his trial was set to begin.
“This defendant used his position of trust as a doctor to sedate and sexually assault his victims, betraying his medical oath and traumatizing his patients,” DA Stephan said. “Thanks to the thorough investigation by law enforcement and the work of our prosecution team, this predator disguised in a white coat was brought to justice and will serve a lengthy prison sentence.”
Ky, an anesthesiologist with ties to numerous local medical care facilities, was also operating a pain management clinic in Escondido in 2020. The four victims, women ranging from 19 to 32 years old, sought treatment from Ky from 2015 through 2020 for a variety of serious medical conditions. In each case, he would suggest treatments that required the victims to be placed under heavy anesthesia. He would then administer drugs such as Ketamine and Propofol, making the victims unconscious.
The victims would sometimes wake up during the treatments to find him sexually assaulting them. He would continue to administer drugs putting them under again. When the victims would raise concerns about their memories, Ky assured them it was just a result of hallucinations from the drugs. One victim remembers him whispering in her ear “I know you like this” while sexually assaulting her. Due to the effects of the drugs, the victims were unable to move or even talk when they would wake up and find him violating them. The victims’ mothers and husbands would be sitting in the waiting room while he sexually assaulted their loved ones in his treatment room, according to DA Stephan.
Ky was arrested by the Escondido Police Department and United States Marshals in March 2020, bringing an end to his medical practice and his ability to victimize others.
