Report: Former USC Dean Linked To Drug Overdose With Prostitute

LOS ANGELES (CBS13) — A former dean at USC is now linked to a drug overdose with his alleged prostitute girlfriend.

Dr. Carmen Puliafito was the dean of the University's Keck School of Medicine until he resigned last year. But now, his secret life is being revealed, that some claim involved a circle of criminal friends and drug use.

In a report by the Los Angeles Times, a woman who claims to be a prostitute, says the world renowned doctor paid for her living expenses, bought her drugs and even used drugs himself.

Puliafito was a well-known figure at USC. He resigned from his leadership job at the university in 2016. Now, the doctor is the focus of an LA Times report, in which he was linked to a drug overdose involving a young woman who the paper says worked as a prostitute. The Pasadena Police Department released a 911 call that came in from a Pasadena hotel, in which Puliafito is heard telling a dispatcher his girlfriend had a bunch of drinks, and became sick and passed out.

A Pasadena city spokesman says no charges were filed because the overdose wasn't fatal. The young woman told The LA Times she and the doctor "were constant companions for more than a year and a half, and that Puliafito used drugs with her and sometimes brought her and other members of their circle to the USC campus after hours to party." Those drugs included methamphetamine. The LA Times reported there was at least one video in which "Puliafito displays an orange pill on his tongue and says into the camera, 'thought I'd take an ecstasy.' "

Monday, USC told stated Puliafito is "currently on leave from his roles at USC, including seeing patients. If the assertions reported in the July 17 Los Angeles Times story are true, we hope that Carmen receives care and treatment that will lead him to a full recovery.

According to The Medical Board of California's website, the doctor has a clean record.