LISBON — Dr. Robert R. Zewe Jr., 50, of Ridgedale Drive in Erie, Pa. waived his preliminary hearing Monday in Columbiana County Court in his felony compelling prostitution and possessing criminal tools case, and the case was bound over to a Columbiana County grand jury.

Zewe’s charges are a third-degree felony (compelling prostitution) and fifth-degree felony (possessing criminal tools.) If convicted of compelling prostitution, he could get several years in prison. The criminal tools is a lower level felony punishable by up to one year in prison.

He also has a misdemeanor charge of engaging in prostitution, which was also bound over to the grand jury. Zewe appeared in person for his hearing Monday with his attorney, Ron Yarwood.

The charges resulted from undercover agents with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force arresting Zewe Oct. 10 in the Youngstown area after Zewe allegedly agreed to pay for sex with a fictitious underage girl and her mother, according to a news release issued by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene.

The East Palestine Police Department filed the charges against Zewe, according to court records.

Zewe still has an active Pennsylvania medical license, but his Ohio medical license expired in 2008, according to online Ohio Medical Board records. The Ohio license was issued in 2005.

The task force is organized under Yost’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission and is led by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

Zewe was arrested Oct. 10, according to the news release and apparently remained in the Columbiana County jail Saturday, when an order was issued by the court to the Columbiana County jail to release Zewe after he posted a $25,000 bond.

Zewe’s charges were filed with the court Saturday, according to court records. The case is being handled by Judge Kelly Linger.

An online biography states that Zewe is a doctor of osteopathy and joined the medical staff at Penn Highlands Healthcare in northwestern Pennsylvania around February 2024. It states that he had previously practiced in various areas, including the Lancaster and Sidney, Ohio, areas, New York state and Erie.

The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force includes representatives from the Ohio Investigative Unit, East Palestine Police Department, Salem Police Department, Ohio Adult Parole Authority, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, BCI, Youngstown Police Department, Austintown Police Department, Beaver Township Police Department, Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations.