COLUMBUS, Ohio — CLEVELAND, Ohio (WEWS) — A 27-year-old man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who reportedly traveled to Indiana to get an abortion.
According to court records, Gerson Fuentes was arrested on Tuesday for the rape of a minor.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, a detective testified in court on Wednesday that the child had to travel to Indiana on June 30 for the procedure.
Franklin County Municipal Court records obtained by Scripps station WEWS in Cleveland confirm the age of the victim and say that Fuentes confessed to Columbus Police that he raped the girl. The confession came after they obtained a DNA sample from him, authorities said.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, the state of Ohio implemented the "Heartbeat Bill," which does not allow abortions in the state after six weeks. Ten-year-olds who become pregnant are, by definition, rape victims, but Ohio’s abortion law doesn’t make exceptions for rape and incest.
The 10-year-old's story, first brought to light by the Indianapolis Star, gained national attention.
Earlier this week, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who supports the new abortion restrictions, went on Fox News to raise doubts about the story. He said he works closely with law enforcement authorities and he’d gotten “not a whisper” about the case.
“Something maybe even more telling,” he told host Jesse Watters, “is my office runs the state crime lab. Any case like this, you’re going to have a rape kit, you’re going to have biological evidence and you would be looking for DNA analysis… There is no case request for analysis that looks anything like this.”
Yost released the following statement on Wednesday about the arrest:
“My heart aches for the pain suffered by this young child. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department in securing a confession and getting a rapist off the street. Justice must be served and BCI stands ready to support law enforcement across Ohio putting these criminals behind bars.”
This story was originally reported by Courtney Shaw on wews.com.
