The man who raped a 10-year-old girl who was forced to venture to Indiana for an abortion was just sentenced to life in prison.
Gerson Fuentes, 28, was given life with the possibility of parole after 25 years and had to register as a Tier 3 sex offender.
The ruling came from a Franklin County, Ohio, courthouse on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said his mother didn't object to the plea Fuentes made for a lighter sentence and actually supported it.
Julie Lynch, a Franklin County judge, didn't share the sentiment.
His crime is considered one of the most serious offenses, she told NBC News, and agreeing to the joint sentencing recommendation that offered him the possibility for parole was a "hard pill" to swallow.
"If that family hadn’t begged me to take this joint recommendation, this would never be happening,” Lynch said.
Fuentes was originally charged with two felony counts of the rape of a minor by a grand jury in Columbus, Ohio.
The police alleged that he raped the girl on two separate occasions before his arrest in June 2022. He confessed his crimes to law enforcement.
She was only 9 years old at the time of her assault, court documents shown to the grand jury reveal.
One of the rapes impregnated the girl — but because abortion was (and still is) banned in Ohio, she was forced to travel to Indiana, where it was still legal at the time.
The girl was six weeks and three days into her pregnancy by the time she discovered it — three days past the abortion limitations in the state of Ohio, which doesn't make any exceptions for rape or incest.
That meant she had to travel out of state for treatment, which is how she landed in Dr. Caitlin Bernard's office in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The girl's story made it all the way to the desk of US President Joe Biden, who announced an executive order aimed at protecting abortion rights at the time.
"Raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatised. Was forced to travel to another state," he said. "Imagine being that little girl."
The family now hopefully has some semblance of closure after Wednesday's sentencing. But the 10-year-old's story — and those of hundreds of others across the country — is not over as many states continue to enact abortion bans.
