An Ohio man identified as Gerson Fuentes, 27, and who may be an undocumented migrant, was arrested Tuesday after confessing to the rape of a 10-year-old girl in Franklin County (which includes the city of Columbus), according to informed the local authorities and reported the newspaper The Columbus Dispatch.
The girl became pregnant, and had to travel to Indiana due to abortion restrictions in Ohio, causing outrage across the country in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that eliminated the constitutional protection of that right and triggered bans in states governed by the Republican Party.
Gerson Fuentes, the alleged rapist of a 10-year-old girl from Ohio. Franklin County Sheriff
Fuentes is being held on $2 million bail.
According to the newspaper, a judge said that there is a risk that the accused will escape and, given the brutality of the crime, a high bail was necessary to protect the minor.
Columbus police said they learned of the girl's pregnancy through a report to Franklin County Children's Services made by her mother on June 22;
the minor aborted in Indianapolis on June 30.
Dr. Caitlin Bernar told The Indianapolis Star newspaper that an abortion had been performed on the minor in Indianapolis because the entry into force of a new law in Ohio that prevents doing so after detecting the first heartbeat of the fetus had prevented it in her state.