OH Man Accused In Rape Of 10-Year-Old Who Needed Out-Of-State Abortion

COLUMBUS, OH — A Columbus man has reportedly been charged with raping and impregnating a 10-year-old Ohio girl, who then had to seek an out-of-state abortion following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade.

Gershon Fuentes, 27, of Columbus' Northwest Side, was arrested Tuesday, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Police said he admitted to twice raping the girl and was charged with felony rape.

The girl reportedly received a medical abortion June 30 in Indianapolis.

The arrest comes after Dave Yost, the Ohio attorney general, said Monday that his office had heard “not a whisper” about the case, which gained international attention after the Supreme Court ruling triggered an Ohio law that outlawed abortion for any reason. The girl's story was mentioned by President Joe Biden last week.

“We have a decentralized law enforcement system in Ohio, but we have regular contact with prosecutors and local police and sheriffs,” Yost told Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime.” “Not a whisper anywhere.”

Yost said his office runs the state's crime lab.

"Any case like this, you’re going to have a rape kit, you’re going to have biological evidence, and you would be looking for DNA analysis, which we do most of the DNA analysis in Ohio. There is no case request for analysis that looks anything like this," he said.

Dispatch reporter Bethany Bruner tweeted she was the sole reporter in the courtroom Wednesday morning as Fuentes was arraigned.

"This confirms that the case exists," she tweeted.