CLEVELAND — The judge in the sex trafficking case of Dr. Albert Aiad-Toss, 52, of Canfield has ruled against allowing Aiad-Toss to be released from the Mahoning County jail to await trial.

Aiad-Toss, who worked for an outside company as an emergency room doctor at St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital until his charges were unsealed, is facing charges that could result in a prison sentence of up to 20 years if convicted.

His attorney asked Judge Pamela Barker to allow him to await his June 1 trial at home on electronic monitoring, arguing that being at home would make it easier for him to meet with his attorney to prepare for trial.

But the judge ruled that Aiad-Toss had not overcome the presumption that he should remain in detention.

Such a presumption exists in order to assure that Aiad Toss will appear for court and to protect the community.

Aiad Toss is accused of victimizing six girls ages 12 to 15 by coercing and sometimes physically forcing them to engage in sex acts with him in exhange for money.

He is accused in one instance of coercing a victm to send him sexual images and video without meeting her in person.

“While the location monitoring that defendant proposes may offer useful information about where he is, it would provide little useful information about what he is doing,” the judge stated.

“The ready accessibility of smart phones and digital communication devices would make it all too easy for him to commit the same types of crime(s) that he is accused of committing with other young, vulnerable girls.”

Aiad Toss does not have his passport and has not renewed his Egyptian passport or registered with the Egyptian Embassy, but “this does not mean he could not flee to somewhere in the United States and not appear,” the judge stated. After a criminal complaint was filed against Aiad Toss on July 1, 2019, he was “located and transferred to Ohio from Broward County, Fla,” the judge noted.

erunyan@tribtoday.com