generic Illegal Immigrant Arrested for Allegedly Raping Ten-Year-Old Ohio Girl at Center of Viral Abortion Story
Police arrested an illegal immigrant on Tuesday after he allegedly raped and impregnated a ten-year-old girl who reportedly traveled from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
The outlet reported that 27-year-old Gershon Fuentes confessed to raping the ten-year-old child on at least two occasions. He has been charged with rape and is being held on a $2 million bond, according to the report.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Fuentes, who is from Guatemala, a source told Fox News.
The child became the subject of national media attention after the Indianapolis Star reported earlier this month that an Indianapolis-based abortionist named Caitlin Bernard was asked by a child-abuse doctor in Ohio to help the young girl get an abortion in Indiana. The report said Ohio’s abortion law, which went into effect after the overturn of Roe v. Wade and bans most abortion after six weeks, prevented the girl from receiving an abortion in her home state.
Even President Biden recently cited the girl’s story while criticizing the Court’s decision saying, “Imagine being that little girl. I’m serious. Just imagine being that little girl.”
The story came under scrutiny, however, for relying upon a single source — Bernard — and for including scant details.
Detective Jeffrey Huhn testified Wednesday that Columbus police became aware of the girl’s pregnancy through a referral by Franklin County Children Services that was made by her mother on June 22. He said the girl had an abortion in Indianapolis on June 30.
The Supreme Court overturned Roe on June 24.
The child had identified Fuentes as her rapist, Huhn testified. He said DNA from the clinic in Indianapolis is being tested against samples from Fuentes.
National Review has reached out to the Columbus Police Department and Franklin County Children Services for comment.
Fox News had previously reported that an unnamed source confirmed there was a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who went to Indiana seeking an abortion, though it was unclear “whether this girl was forced to cross state lines as [President Biden] alleged, or was she simply referred to an expert in a different state? As Ohio’s attorney general told [Fox News host] Jesse Waters last night, the girl did not need to leave the state, she would have been legally able to get an abortion in Ohio.”
Ohio attorney general Dave Yost said Ohio’s abortion law, which bans the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, has a “medical-emergency exception broader than just the life of the mother. This young girl, if she exists and if this horrible thing actually happened to her . . . she did not have to leave Ohio” to receive an abortion.
Though Yost had suggested the story was likely a “fabrication” because he had not heard a “whisper” about a related investigation from law enforcement, he responded to the news of the arrest on Wednesday by saying, “We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets,” according to the Columbus Dispatch.
