A California appeals court has upheld a dentist’s conviction on sex-related charges involving five female patients and an extern, mynewsla.com reported Nov. 2.
Emad Fathy Moawad, DDS, was charged in June 2021 with sexually abusing several patients. A jury found him guilty last year on six felony counts of sexual battery by restraint, five felony counts of sexual penetration by use of force and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery. The cases took place between 2013 and 2020 and involved women between the ages of 19 and 73. He was sentenced in September 2025 to 75 years to life in prison, and ordered to register as a sex offender.
Dr. Moawad’s legal defense team argued that the trial judge erred by letting jurors hear from a psychology expert on the psychological consequences of trauma and victimization because the expert had no knowledge of the facts of the case. A three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected that argument, noting that the defense had stressed delays in reporting and some victims’ return to Dr. Moawad’s office for treatment, which the expert explained was common behavior among victims of sexual assault.
