Roy Chi Wing Lung, Alleged Hospital Surgical Equipment Thief, Has Bizarre Past: Update

See the update on Page 2 that provides more details on Roy Chi Wing Lung's criminal past and the loss of his medical license.

ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 13, 7 A.M.: A 46-year-old Los Alamitos man allegedly stole surgical equipment from Fountain Valley Regional Hospital at least three times. Roy Chi Wing Lung was arrested Sunday, booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of commercial burglary, posted bail and was released Monday, according to jail records. Before leaving, he may have recognized his own initials in the holding area. Then-physician Lung was arrested in 2008 for allegedly stealing medical supplies from Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley. Four years before that, he was convicted of having sticky fingers at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

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The latest thefts are said to have begun happening on May 19, according to Fountain Valley Police Lt. Ken Hounsley.

Wearing medical scrubs and a wig, Lung walked into the hospital at 17100 Euclid St., Fountain Valley, on Sunday but an employee noticed his description fit a man police were looking for and contacted security guards who called the cops, Hounsely reportedly told City News Service.

Lung was arrested driving away from the hospital, according to Hounsley, who added a later search of his home produced a stash of stolen surgical equipment.

Investigators are now cataloging what was found as well as reaching out to other area hospitals to see if they've also experienced thefts, the police spokesman said.

The Orange County Register in 2008 reported on Lung allegedly stealing medical supplies from Orange Coast Memorial at 9920 Talbert Ave., Fountain Valley, and having his state medical license suspended.

That case had elements as bizarre as the wig and scrubs routine from this past weekend. Orange Coast employees discovered Lung, also wearing scrubs, sleeping in the doctor quarters and eating meals there despite having no privileges at the medical center. He identified himself as “Dr. Ray Lin.”

Later pressed by police, Lung said that for the past two years he had been using the quarters to catch up on sleep for his commute to another hospital–then changed his story to say he had been doing it for 10 years. Besides eating and sleeping there, he took showers, watched television and used telephones and fax machines, all for free.

Police at the time reported finding hospital sutures in Lung's car ready to be mailed out and a note from a “Steve” thanking him for his business.

In 2004, Lung pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts related to theft of medical equipment from Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. He was placed on probation and ordered to stay away from Long Beach Memorial.
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UPDATE, AUG. 13, 5:04 P.M.: City News Service reporter Paul Anderson looked at court and medical records in Orange and Los Angeles counties that shed more light on Roy Chi Wing Lung's unusual past.

He'd earned a bachelor of science degree in bioengineering from UCLA in June 1989, graduated from the University of Texas, San Antonio, medical school in May 1993 and completed graduate training at UC Irvine in June 1996.

California medical board officials had faulted his emergency room care that led to the deaths of two patients in 2002 and 2003, and his license was suspended. He was later accused of continuing to practice at a physical therapy office in Pomona while under suspension.

Besides probation, four days in jail and 200 hours community service, Lung was ordered to pay $5,494.50 in restitution to Long Beach Memorial Hospital after pleading no contest on Nov. 12, 2004, to misdemeanor grand theft and possession of stolen property. He'd been caught with two hospital computers, a computer bag and another physician's parking sticker. He completed the terms of probation early and his conviction was set
aside.

Turns out he not only was caught wearing scrubs at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley in January 2008, as referenced in the original post, but he'd been confronted by a hospital employee there while in scrubs in December 2007, identified himself as Dr. Lin and declined to produce identification or wait for security, leaving with pockets that “were puffed,” according to a nurse cited in state records.

His medical license was revoked in March 2009 after a hearing the previous December regarding “repeated negligent acts in connection with the care and treatment of two patients.” His crashing of hospital doctor quarters and various thefts were also referenced by board investigators.

Lung pleaded guilty in September 2010 to resisting a peace officer and obstructing a business, both misdemeanors, was placed on three years of informal probation (which was set to expire in September this year) and ordered to do 20 days of community service with Caltrans, according to Orange County Superior Court records.

Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!

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