The man found guilty of raping and impregnating a nine-year-old Ohio girl who later traveled to Indiana for abortion has been sentenced to life in prison.
On Wednesday afternoon, 28-year-old Gerson Fuentes appeared at the Franklin county court of common pleas in Columbus, Ohio, where he entered a plea agreement which will allow him to be eligible to seek probation after 25 years. If granted parole, Fuentes would also have to register as a tier 3 sex offender and will have a lifetime of in-person verification every 90 days.
Last July, Fuentes was arrested and charged with raping the child in a case that dominated nationwide headlines after the girl, who turned 10 shortly after, was then forced to travel to neighboring Indiana for an abortion due to Ohio’s six-week “trigger ban” at the time which came into effect after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year.
According to a police investigator who testified at a hearing last year, Fuentes, who is from Guatemala and living in Columbus, Ohio, had confessed to raping the girl at least twice.
The case went on to gain further attention after the Indiana state attorney general launched an investigation into Caitlin Bernard, the doctor who performed the abortion on the child victim. The attorney general, Todd Rokita, accused Bernard of violating state law by not reporting the child’s abuse and violating patient privacy protections, despite Bernard’s refusal to discuss specific details of the victim’s case and identity.
In response, Bernard sued Rokita, accusing him of causing her reputation “irreparable harm.” Last November, Rokita asked a state medical board to discipline Bernard.
Following the abortion, Bernard became the center of a political firestorm after rightwing media called the story “not true” and a “lie”. At one point, a Republican commentator said “there is no proof” that the victim even “exists”.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden condemned the case of the child victim, saying last year: “She was forced to have to travel out of the state to Indiana to seek to terminate the pregnancy and maybe save her life … Ten years old – 10 years old! – raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, was forced to travel to another state.”
In May, the Indiana state medical board ruled that it will allow Bernard to continue practicing in Indiana and that she will not have to lose her license. It also found Bernard not guilty of violating reporting requirements about child abuse in the case. However, the board did rule that Bernard violated patient privacy laws in discussing the case with the media. It ultimately voted to issue a letter of reprimand to Bernard and fines of $3,000.
