Friends and family members of a Canfield doctor are asking a judge to consider hardships he has encountered in his life when she sentences him on Thursday for forcing girls between the ages of 12 and 15 to engage in what prosecutors describe as “commercial sex acts".

Public defenders have asked U.S. District Judge Pamela Barker to read letters of support from nine friends and close relatives of 53-year-old Dr. Albert Aiad-Toss. 

The letters were filed with the court one day before he was scheduled to be sentenced for an earlier plea on seven counts of sex trafficking of a minor and one count of production of child pornography as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The letters come from Toss’s ex-wife, two of his three daughters, his sister, and five people who knew Aiad-Toss through church activities.

The letters from acquaintances describe Aiad-Toss as a devout Christian and musician who has composed religious music. The letters from family members say he is a dedicated husband, father, and brother whose “mistakes” were caused by mental health issues.

"Albert has been a committed son, a faithful husband, a dedicated father, the sole provider for his family, the dad who works night shifts to be home during the day with his girls as they were growing up, and a loving and caring brother upon whom I depend all the time,” writes his sister Liliane Toss Ph. D., a university language professor.

“He comes from a very clean family, he’s the type of person that you would trust your kids with,” wrote Irene Samy who belonged to Aiad-Toss’s church in Egypt.

Former wife Lynee Zagotti said Aiad-Toss put family first, was a good provider, and wonderful husband, who taught Sunday school at a Presbyterian church in Columbiana.

“The press and news outlets has made Albert look like a monster and that is just not right,” said Zagotti in her letter to the judge. “He is not the man portrayed by the news stories and by the government in this case. He is a good person who would not hurt anyone if he was in his right frame of mind.”

Zagotti attributes her former husband’s actions to the death of his parents, a midlife crisis, his daughters leaving home, and what she describes as “the immense stress as an ER physician took a toll on his mental health.”

 The doctor’s ex-wife claims he developed substance abuse problems by self-medicating. “He truly lost himself and was in a dark place when this all happened,” wrote Zagotti, who asked the court to give her husband the opportunity to receive treatment.

Two of Aiad-Toss’s daughters, 19-year-old Nicolina and 24-year-old Kristina wrote letters describing their father as a good person who is sorry for his actions.

“This case was a complete shock to my family, friends, and the community around us,” wrote Nicolina Aiad Toss. “He was very well respected in our area, and he volunteered at my school and my church. My friends always knew him, and they all took this as a complete shock.”

Kristina Aiad-Toss, a law student soon to graduate from Case Western Reserve University, who will be graduating this fall writes; “Sometimes, good people go down a dark path and lose themselves in the process, which leads them to make mistakes and hurt others. I truly believe that this is what happened to my father.”

Federal prosecutors have given the court their sentencing recommendation for Aiad-Toss but filed it under seal to protect the public disclosure of sensitive information regarding the minor victims and to protect their rights to privacy.

Aiad-Toss was first indicted in 2019 by a grand jury in Ashland County, Ohio after investigators said that he had traveled there to have sex with the 12-year-old he allegedly met via a network of young teens.

That indictment was dismissed after Aiad-Toss was indicted federally.

Aiad-Toss, who was arrested in September 2019, is being held in the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center.

Previously working as an emergency room doctor at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Boardman, Aiad-Toss was employed by an outside company, not Mercy Health directly. He was removed from St. Elizabeth's schedule when the initial allegations came to light.

In late 2019, the Ohio Medical Board indefinitely suspended Aiad-Toss’ license to practice.

Three of the letters of support may be seen below.