Gerson Fuentes, a Columbus man, was arrested for raping and impregnating a 10-year-old Ohio girl. The case gained highlight after U.S. President Joe Biden claimed that the victim had travelled to Indiana to seek abortion.
Fuentes Raped the Victim Twice
The Columbus Dispatch reported the 27-year-old, who admitted to raping the victim on at least two occasions before impregnating her, was charged with rape, a felony of the first degree in Ohio. The outlet further reported that Fuentes was staying in Columbus from past seven years and was working in a café.
The outlet reported that the victim's mother had reported about the sexual assault and subsequent pregnancy to the Columbus police on June 22. While testifying in the court, Det. Jeffrey Huhn revealed that the victim underwent the abortion in Indianapolis on June 30. The DNA from the Indiana clinic are now being used to for cross-referencing samples from Fuentes.
During his recent address, while speaking the 10-year-old Ohio rape victim, Biden had said that some of the states don't allow for exceptions for rape or incest.
"This isn't some imagined horror. It's already happening. Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim in Ohio — 10 years old — and she was forced to have to travel out of the state, to Indiana, to seek to terminate the pregnancy and maybe save her life. That's — the last part is my judgment. Ten years old. Ten years old. Raped, six weeks pregnant. Already traumatized. Was forced to travel to another state. Imagine being that little girl. Just — I'm serious — just imagine being that little girl. Ten years old," he said.
Fuentes Is an Illegal Immigrant
The New York Post reported that it was Indianapolis OB-GYM Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who had initially revealed that the victim was six weeks and three days pregnant. The timeline made her too late to receive abortion care under Ohio's restrictive abortion law.
Fox News claimed that Fuentes, whose last known address is an apartment on Columbus' Northwest Side, is Guatemalan illegal immigrant. The outlet reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a detainer on Fuentes, requesting his handing over to the agency.
After Biden highlighted the case in his speech, there were questions about the authenticity. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost claimed that his office had not heard "a whisper" of a report being filed for the 10-year-old victim. "There's not one of them that wouldn't be turning over every rock, looking for this guy and they would have charged him. They wouldn't leave him loose on the streets ... I'm not saying it could not have happened. What I'm saying to you is there is not a damn scintilla of evidence," Yost said according to the outlet.
