An Ohio plastic surgeon has been jailed for drugging and raping at least one unconscious woman as well as being found to have assaulted 20 other women in recovered videos.
Manish Gupta, 50, will serve 235 months (19.6 years) in jail for sex-trafficking by force, coercion, fraud, and illegally dispensing a controlled substance.
Judge James Carr also ordered the defendant to pay a USD-250,000 fine and USD 57,000 in compensation.
Acting US Attorney Bridget M. Brennan said: “Mr. Gupta meticulously planned his attacks, including which controlled substances to pull from his medical office so that he could incapacitate vulnerable women and record his sexual assaults.
“The brave women who spoke out, along with the dedicated work of the FBI and prosecutors assigned to this case, ensured that Mr. Gupta was brought to justice and will no longer be a threat to women.”
Prosecutors said on Monday that 61 videos were found during the investigation that show Gupta sexually assaulting at least 20 different women, however only one came forwards as a government witness.
Judge Carr said: “What you did deliberately and repeatedly to 20 or more individuals manifests a criminal mindset that, in my view, is the worst.”
FBI official Eric B. Smith said: “The FBI is pleased with the lengthy sentence given today to Manish Gupta for his heinous criminal behaviour.
“He took advantage of these females and turned them into victims of sexual abuse. Gupta’s incarceration may pave the way for other victims to come forward.”
The Northern District of Ohio of the US Department of Justice said Gupta owned three plastic surgery clinics in the city of Toledo in Ohio and the town of Oregon in Michigan, adding: “As a licensed doctor, Gupta was authorized to prescribe controlled substances within the course of his medical practice and for legitimate purposes”.
Court documents said Gupta often travelled to medical conferences in the US where he would “stay at a centrally located hotel in these cities, hire escorts in the area and administer incapacitating drugs in order to commit sexual acts of violence without consent”.
The authorities also said that he would ship a bag, called the ‘rape bag’ in court documents, with drugs and filming equipment to wherever he was staying.
In August 2016, Gupta started an online correspondence with ‘Victim #1’, according to the Northern District of Ohio.
The woman, identified with the initials K.B. in local reports, was hired for sex ahead of Gupta’s trip to Los Angeles.
On 23rd September 2016, he met the escort at his hotel and gave her an “incapacitating controlled substance, performed sexual acts of violence and recorded the assault”.
In a statement, the Northern District of Ohio said that “FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at one of Gupta’s plastic surgery centers in Toledo” on 6th March 2020.
“During the search, agents obtained numerous items, including controlled substances, sedatives, recording equipment and video recording memory cards, one of which contained a recording of Gupta committing sexual assault.
“Agents later discovered 61 different videos of Gupta committing sex acts of violence on at least 20 different unconscious women, including Victim #1.”
Gupta told the court: “I will spend the rest of my life contemplating my actions. I will remain mortified until the day I die.”
K.B. said: “It was really cathartic to get him to look at me. He couldn’t meet my eye for long, but he did for a few seconds and it felt good to demand respect if only for a moment.”
