Joseph Troisi, 53, is charged with attempted abduction of a person under 14. (HO)

TORONTO -- Etobicoke residents have started a Facebook petition demanding that a man accused of trying to lure a schoolgirl into his Cadillac last week stay in jail while awaiting trial.

The group, Please Help Us Keep Joseph Troisi in Jail and Away From Our Children, was started shortly after his arrest by Toronto Police last week and has grown to more than 2,000 members.

Using the Facebook group as a petition, the group's founder is vowing to take a printout of the online page to the courthouse this week.

The alleged victim of an attempted abduction, a 12-year-old girl, told the Sun last week that she was running home along Allen Ave., north of Lakeshore Blvd. W., on Dec. 16 when a man standing beside a grey Cadillac approached her, struck up a conversation and "grabbed her." Several bystanders held the man there until police arrived.

Troisi, 53, is charged with attempted abduction of a person under 14.

He is also charged with two counts of criminal harassment after two girls complained of a man trying Dec. 15 to lure them into a 2009 Cadillac in the Royal York Rd.-Mimico Ave. area.

Troisi, who appeared before a judge yesterday, is next scheduled to appear in court tomorrow.