TOLEDO, Ohio — Former Toledo-based plastic surgeon Manish Gupta will be in court on Monday for sentencing after pleading guilty to felony charges back in April.
Gupta changed his plea to guilty after being arrested for illegally dispensing controlled substances, aggravated sexual abuse, and sex trafficking.
He originally pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
At the time of his arrest in 2020, Gupta was a board-certified plastic surgeon and medical doctor licensed by the State of Ohio and Michigan, and owned Artisan Cosmetic Surgery with two offices in Ohio and one in Michigan.
According to a court filing in U.S. District Court, an investigation into Gupta began in January 2019 alleging that he improperly drugged and performed sex acts on an adult female high-end escort in 2016 while Gupta was in Los Angeles.
The woman believes Gupta had drugged her to the point of unconsciousness.
The filing says the woman later took a purchased at-home drug test that tested positive for benzodiazepine, a psychoactive medication also known as tranquilizers.
Investigators obtained records from the Rape Treatment Center at the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica where the woman underwent a rape exam.
The court filing says the woman then went online to find that multiple other women had claimed to have been drugged, raped, and likely video-recorded by Gupta.
In addition, according to the FBI, in 2014, an employee for Gupta found multiple SD cards containing videos of Gupta having sex with women who appeared to be unconscious.
The employee gave the content to another individual who then provided them to the FBI.
A federal search warrant was executed on March 6th, 2020 for Gupta's residence, personal vehicle, and his two Lucas County offices where sex toys, camera equipment, SD cards, and a large amount of controlled substances were discovered in Gupta's private office.
Based on this information, a warrant was issued for Gupta's arrest. Gupta was booked in the Lucas County Jail after his arrest.
Gupta's offices were in Toledo, Oregon, and Taylor, MI.
Gupta was not employed by Mercy Health, nor ProMedica but he did have medical staff privileges and held a leadership position.
After learning of these criminal allegations, both health systems suspended him at all of their facilities.
His state license information online shows no previous board disciplinary action.
