A man accused of raping and impregnating a 9-year-old Ohio girl who traveled to Indiana for an abortion was ordered held without bail Thursday by a judge who cited overwhelming evidence and the fact that he is apparently living in the U.S. illegally. Gerson Fuentes, 27, faces two counts of raping the 10-year-old girl before having the abortion in a case that has become a flashpoint in the national debate over access to due process since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, Fuentes, who is from Guatemala, faces the possibility of life in prison without the possibility of parole. That sentence and “the lack of legally provable ties to this community make her a significant flight risk,” Franklin County Judge Julie Lynch said after a 35-minute hearing. The girl confirmed Fuentes assaulted her, Fuentes confessed to Columbus police detectives and DNA testing of the aborted fetus confirmed Fuentes was the father, Franklin County Prosecutor Dan Meyer and Det. Geoffrey Hoon. Hoon said he was unable, when searching multiple databases, to find evidence that Fuentes was in the country legally. In denying bond, Lynch cited that evidence, the violence of the crime and the fact that Fuentes lived in the same house as the girl and her mother. “For him to be allowed back into that home, the traumatic and psychological impact would not be worth it to an alleged victim,” Lynch said. He also cited the “physical, mental and emotional trauma” the girl suffered from the rape and abortion and to find her case at the center of the abortion debate in the country. The case gained national attention after an Indianapolis physician, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, said the child had to travel to Indiana because of Ohio’s ban on abortion at the first detectable “fetal heartbeat” after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. US President Joe Biden cited the case when he signed an executive order on July 8 seeking to protect access to abortion. Some conservatives and prominent Republicans, including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, disputed the story at first and then condemned the attack after Fuentes was arrested. Fuentes’ attorney, Brian Bowen, argued against a no-bond hearing and unsuccessfully asked Lynch to post a reasonable bond. He said there was no evidence of physical abuse other than rape or that the girl had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He also said Fuentes had family ties to Columbus, had a job and there was no evidence of a criminal history. Fuentes has lived in the area for about seven years. “We have heard evidence about the nature of the offence, but we have not heard evidence that presents any danger that Mr Fuentes would pose to any particular individual or the community,” he said. He declined to comment after Leeds’ decision. Dan Meyer, an assistant Franklin County prosecutor, said Thursday that Fuentes cared for the girl’s family, including her mother. Columbus police learned of the girl’s pregnancy after her mother notified Franklin County Children’s Services on June 22. Hoon said Fuentes confessed to raping the girl, who turned 10 on May 28, on two occasions. The girl visited a doctor in the Columbus area in late June with plans to have an abortion locally, but that was not possible because of her gestational age, which was determined to be six weeks and four days, Hoon testified. Ohio’s “heartbeat” abortion ban includes an exception only for an emergency that is life-threatening or poses a “serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of an important bodily function.” Indiana’s Republican Senate leaders proposed a bill this month that would ban abortions from the moment an egg implants in the uterus, with exceptions in cases of rape and incest and to protect the life of the mother. The proposal followed the Ohio girl abortion controversy in Indiana.
