Ohio Man Found Guilty of Raping and Impregnating 10-Year-Old Receives Sentencing

A man from Ohio has been given a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for raping his girlfriend’s young daughter. The case gained national attention when the 10-year-old girl sought an abortion in Indiana. Gerson Fuentes, a 28-year-old Guatemalan national, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape of a minor and was immediately sentenced under a plea deal, according to NBC. Last year, when the girl was 9 years old, she was raped by Fuentes. In late June of that year, she went to a doctor complaining of symptoms and it was discovered that she was pregnant.

Shortly after the girl visited her doctor, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court and an Ohio “heartbeat” law went into effect, banning abortions after six weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest. At the time of the news coverage, the girl was 10 years old and just past the six-week mark of her pregnancy when she traveled to Indiana for an abortion. Some conservatives questioned the credibility of the case, despite the outcry from abortion rights advocates, as reported by The New York Times. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost initially expressed doubt about the case, but later expressed sympathy for the young child.

According to Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Daniel Lener, DNA tests were conducted on the “product of conception” after the girl’s abortion. Fuentes confessed to the crime after investigators collected DNA samples from everyone in the girl’s residence, as stated by the Columbus Dispatch. If Fuentes is ever released from prison, he will be required to register as a sex offender and may face deportation. The Dispatch also notes that the Ohio law that prevented the girl from having an abortion in the state was only in effect for 82 days before a judge halted the restrictions. (Read more Ohio stories.)