USC scandal: Ex-dean lived secret life of drugs, parties, prostitutes, report says
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A former USC dean who described himself as a “God” to medical students lived a secret life of drinking, drug use and partying with addicts and prostitutes – sometimes even after-hours on the school’s campus -- according to an explosive new investigative report.
Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, the dean of USC’s Keck School of Medicine, was a top bundler for the institution before his resignation in March 2016, hauling in $200 million in research grants while overseeing hundreds of students and thousands of professors and clinicians, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
But three weeks before leaving the $1.1-million-a-year post, a 21-year-old woman had overdosed in his company at Pasadena hotel, with the ensuing investigation by the newspaper revealing Puliafito’s secret life.
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“He would say, ‘They love me around here. The medical students think I am God,’” said Sarah Warren, the woman who overdosed.
Photos and videos of the 66-year-old reviewed by the Los Angeles Times showed Puliafito and others partying in hotel rooms, cars -- and even the dean’s office -- with his acquaintances.
“Thought I’d take an ecstasy before the ball,” Puliafito, wearing a tuxedo, says in one video before swallowing an orange pill on his tongue, the newspaper reported. Another video shows the former dean heating up a pipe outfitted for methamphetamine use.
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Puliafito had worked at the school for nearly a decade and hung up without offering comment when called by a reporter last week. School officials have declined comment and he continues to represent USC’s medical school, speaking at a Keck-sponsored program at a hotel in Pasadena Saturday – one of the hotels which a member of the group said she frequented with him.