Gerson Fuentes, 28, received a plea deal that allows him to seek parole after serving 25 to 30 years since he confessed to raping and impregnating the then-9-year-old in a case that reignited the national debate over abortion rights.
Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Lynch said the victim’s family pleaded with her to accept the plea agreement, which she called a “very hard pill for this court to swallow.”
The maximum punishment would have been a life sentence without parole. Either way, Fuentes, who is an undocumented immigrant, will have to register as a sex offender.
If he eventually is paroled, he would likely be deported back to his home country of Guatemala given the fact that he is in the US illegally, according to authorities.
“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.”
The judge added that the deal will save the child from reliving the trauma of her rape by having to testify in court during a trial.
Fuentes was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 25 to 30 years in a plea deal the victim’s family reportedly begged for.
The victim’s mother previously defended her daughter’s rapist when approached by a Telemundo reporter at her Columbus apartment which was also listed as the home of Fuentes.
“Everything that they’re saying against [Fuentes] is a lie,” she said in Spanish as she hid behind her apartment door.
However, the woman’s daughter told investigators that Fuentes had raped her and DNA testing confirmed that he was the father of the aborted fetus.
The mom, who refused to provide her name, claimed her daughter was fine and said she wasn’t the person who pressed charges against Fuentes.
Fuentes, an undocumented immigrant, must register as a sex offender and will likely be deported to Guatemala if he is ever paroled.
The stomach-turning abuse made national news when President Biden cited it as evidence of the horrors of anti-abortion legislation after the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade.
The young girl, who was impregnated by Fuentes, was taken from Ohio to Indiana in order to terminate her pregnancy via legal abortion.
The doctor who treated the child, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, spoke out against anti-abortion laws, like Ohio’s, that ban abortion at the first sign of a heartbeat and gave the example of her unnamed patient as proof against the legislation.
Bernard was reprimanded in May for violating patient privacy laws when she spoke to a local newspaper reporter about the case — even though she didn’t disclose any protected information. Indiana’s state Medical Licensing Board fined the doctor $3,000.
The post Sicko Gerson Fuentes, who raped 9-year-old girl that later got abortion out of state, gets life sentence appeared first on lawyer.bet.
