Who is Gerson Fuentes? Undocumented Immigrant Billed With Ohio Child Rape

The gentleman charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who later traveled to neighboring Indiana for an abortion is reportedly an illegal immigrant.

Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested on Tuesday just after police said he confessed to raping the girl on at the very least two situations, The Columbus Dispatch noted. He is charged with rape, a to start with-degree felony in Ohio.

The female discovered Fuentes as the a single who impregnated her, a detective testified during Fuentes’ arraignment in Franklin County Municipal Courtroom on Wednesday.

She underwent an abortion in Indianapolis on June 30, Det. Jeffrey Huhn stated. He added that DNA from the Indianapolis abortion clinic was becoming examined against samples from Fuentes to affirm paternity.

Fuentes is staying held on $2 million bond.

Clark Torbett, an legal professional with the Franklin County General public Defender’s business office, experienced argued it was unconstitutional to maintain Fuentes with out bond especially when confirmation of paternity remained pending.

According to the Dispatch, Torbett claimed Fuentes experienced lived in Columbus for 7 several years and experienced a continuous work at a cafe.

Torbett said he also had a position to reside that was not the exact as the 10-calendar year-outdated female. His very last known handle was an apartment in the city’s Northwest Aspect.

He spoke to detectives as a result of an interpreter, Huhn mentioned.

Fuentes “has no immigration record” in the U.S. and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has put a “detainer” ask for on Fuentes, an ICE spokesperson explained to Newsweek.

“On July 13, officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removing Functions lodged an immigration detainer on Gerson Fuentes following his arrest by the Columbus, Ohio Law enforcement Department for felony rape costs,” the ICE spokesperson stated.

“Fuentes is at this time in the custody of neighborhood officers at the Franklin County Jail. Fuentes has no previous immigration historical past.”

Fuentes is a Guatemalan countrywide, according to Fox News.

The case gained focus before this thirty day period right after The Indianapolis Star noted that the lady experienced to travel to Indiana to get an abortion mainly because she was a few days past Ohio’s 6-week limit on the process.

A statewide ban on abortions in Ohio soon after the sixth week of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest, went into result just hours just after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade on June 24. Abortions soon after six months remain legal in Indiana, though the Republican-managed point out legislature is expected to look at new limits shortly.

President Joe Biden highlighted the case while criticizing the superior court’s ruling throughout the signing of an government order on July 8 aimed at preserving obtain to abortion.

“Imagine becoming that minor female,” he mentioned. “Just think about getting that little woman. Ten many years old.”

Some conservatives, together with Ohio’s attorney common Dave Yost and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, questioned the veracity of the Indianapolis Star story.

On Fox News, Yost stated his business office experienced not listened to “a whisper” of a report getting filed for the target.

But Huhn explained Columbus police experienced acquired about the girl’s being pregnant nevertheless a referral by Franklin County Kids Solutions manufactured by her mother on June 22.

Fuentes is scheduled for a preliminary listening to on July 22.

His court-appointed legal professional has been contacted for remark.

Update 7/16/22, 6:15 a.m.: This posting has been updated with a comment from an ICE spokesperson.