Man gets life sentence in rape of girl at center of Ohio abortion controversy
A man was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the rape of a 9-year-old girl who became the center of an Ohio abortion controversy last year after traveling out of state to get an abortion.
The man, Gerson Fuentes, 28, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of rape in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus, Ohio. The Columbus Dispatch broadcast a livestream of the proceedings.
Fuentes was sentenced to life in prison but has the possibility of seeing a parole board after 25 to 30 years.
If parole is granted, he would have to register as a sex offender. Fuentes, who was living in Columbus, is from Guatemala and is not a U.S. citizen, meaning that he could be at risk for deportation if he is released from prison.
The girl, who turned 10 before traveling out of state to get an abortion, gained nationwide attention after she was denied an abortion in Ohio shortly after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling. The girl then traveled to Indiana to get an abortion.
Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Indiana, provided the abortion and was met with pushback and accusations of fabrication after she told The Indianapolis Star information about the case.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) vowed to investigate Bernard’s actions last summer, and his team had argued that Bernard had violated patient privacy laws and also failed to report child abuse to Indiana authorities. The Indiana Medical Licensing Board voted in May that Bernard violated patient privacy laws when she discussed the case with the Star.
Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Lynch said the plea deal was a “very hard pill for this court to swallow,” adding that the victim’s family “begged” her to agree to the plea deal even though she was not required to do so. The maximum sentence would have been life without parole, but striking a plea deal would prevent the girl from testifying in court.
“Anyone who’s ever been in this courtroom for the last 20 years knows how this court feels about these babies, young people, being violated,” Lynch said. “However, today, by the request of the family, this court will be sentencing without comment, and everyone knows how hard that’s going to be. Because the court considers this the worst of the offense.”
Fuentes’s defense attorney, Zachary Olah, told the Dispatch that Fuentes had been cooperative since the beginning.
“He was anxious to get this resolved, and we’re happy we were able to get it done today for everybody involved,” Olah said.
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