TAYLOR, Mich. – A doctor practicing in both Michigan and Ohio is behind bars tonight after being charged in a nationwide spree of drug-related sex crimes.
It’s highly unusual for a federal court to hold a defendant without bond, but that’s the case with Dr. Manish Gupta, who occasionally works out of a Taylor cosmetic surgery office. He’s considered such a threat to the community that he’s sitting in a Toledo jail cell.
Gupta, 49, is a well-traveled, Maserati driving, campaign drinking, board certified plastic surgeon. He was arrested Friday when FBI agents raided his home in Sylvania, Ohio.
He’s charged with aggravated sexual abuse, sex trafficking by force and fraud or coercion. But the criminal complaint reads much more chillingly than that.
Much of the evidence against Gupta was obtained during a search warrant served at his Toledo-area cosmetic surgery office. FBI agents said they found a medical bag containing powerful anesthetic drugs he doesn’t use in his practice and video thumb drivers they believe he would either bring with him or have shipped across the country to luxury hotels.
FBI officials claim Gupta would travel to cities such as Detroit, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles for medical conferences, order escort services, drug women and then videotape himself having sex with them while they were unconscious.
Authorities also claim a number of women complained on internet chat boards about Gupta, which led to more victims than the original Los Angeles escort who filed the complaint.
Gupta mostly worked in Ohio, but his father has an office called the Artisan Cosmetic Surgery Center on Telegraph Road in Taylor. It was closed Tuesday, but Manish Gupta’s medical license is visibly hung on the wall in the darkened lobby.
Gupta also occasionally worked out of the told Oakwood -- now Beaumont -- Hospital just across the street.
Beaumont Health released the following statement, explaining they have revoked any privileges he had at their facilities:
“Dr. Manish Gupta has never been employed by Beaumont Health in any role and has not attended any patients at any Beaumont hospital for a decade. However, as a result of the charges he recently faces in Ohio, Beaumont has immediately revoked Dr. Gupta’s dormant privileges to practice any medicine in our facilities. We have no knowledge of these accusations apparently stemming from Gupta’s private office practice activity in Ohio.”
The state of Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs issued this statement on Gupta:
“His license is currently in good standing with no previous violations. There is an open investigation. We cannot comment further on open investigations.”