Did a 10 year old rape victim from Ohio get denied an abortion? Part 3
'Gerson Fuentes' has been officially indicted - plus additional updates
If you haven’t, please read part 1 here and part 2 here. There are important items of discussion I will not be repeating in great detail.
‘Gerson Fuentes’ indicted
On Thursday July 21nd 2022, Gerson Fuentes, the assumed name of the man arrested for raping a 10 year old in Ohio, was officially indicted on two counts of rape. We don’t get much additional information from the indictment paperwork, as one of the charges lists the date of the crime as effectively just being “before the other one.”
There is still good reason to believe there was an incident after May 12th, as discussed in part 2 simply due to the development age of the fetus at the time of the termination of the pregnancy. The victim, according to the investigating officer, was the one who identified Fuentes, so presumably there is no additional perpetrators to consider.
Law and Crime reports the next court date is Monday, July 25th. I have not seen that on the docket yet to confirm.
More information on the mother
The mother’s identity has been published. I will not be sharing that specific information as I do not find it appropriate. However, this allowed me to better confirm several things.
The mother is indeed here illegally. In 2019, she was arrested for operating a motor vehicle without a license and failure to signal.
With the aid of a translator, the mother agreed to take a plea deal offered by the judge. That deal waived the failure to signal if she pled guilty to operating without a license. It was reasonable to infer the reason for not having a license was due to her immigration status.
More additional context
Telemundo interviewed neighbors in addition to the mother. The neighbors confirmed the reasonable suspicion that the Fuentes is the boyfriend of the mother. Not only that, but they claim the mother is currently pregnant with his child.
If true, that adds more weight to the prospect (discussed in part 2) that the ultimate justification for travelling to Indiana was to attempt to avoid too much scrutiny on the scenario, to avoid any chance of deportation being an end result. (Fuentes was listed as being 17 instead of 27 on the Indiana doctor’s report of the abortion to the state).
Additionally, more on the depressing side, being pregnant herself adds more layers of complexity and illuminates why the mother might feel inclined to declare Fuentes’ innocence. Assuming Fuentes confessed without coercion, and that the victim’s identification reported by the police without complication, the mother would be making this denial despite all facts in front of her.
One would hope that she would place protecting her children above anything else. In an ideal world that’s what would happen. But this situation reminds me of a heavy scene from season 3 of the 80s sitcom Night Court. A judge of retirement age is assigned to the court, and has a mental breakdown. Throughout the day he is behaving erratically, making odd rulings, and not able to keep track of time or details. Another judge begins to tell him that he is going to call the hospital, and the judge having the mental breakdown has a brief moment of clarity.