It appears that Telemundo is the only national media outlet currently seeking to center the true victim of the awful Ohio rape case: not the abortionist, but the girl whose innocence was shattered by a member of her own household.
Watch as correspondent María Vargas Pión follows up on yesterday’s report, and nails down the relationship between victim and abuser:
MARIA VARGAS PION: Hiding her face, this woman who opened for us the door of the home where the police confirm that Gerson Fuentes lives- charged with raping a 10-year-old girl, identified herself as the mother of the minor and stated that he is innocent.
VARGAS PION: Do you, as the girl's mother, think that he is innocent?
MOTHER: Of course.
VARGAS PION: Then why is he incarcerated?
MOTHER: I don't know, but I don't really want to talk.
VARGAS PION: Telemundo News confirmed with two people who know her that she is indeed the girl's mother; including Daisy Torres, who claims that they both frequent the same nightclub.
Upon seeing photos and video images recorded with our cameras, she said the following.
Is that her?
DAISY TORRES: It's her. Yes. That’s right.
VARGAS PION: And you say that she is the mother of the 10-year-old girl who was raped.
TORRES: Yes, it is (REDACTED). The girl's mother.
VARGAS PION: She also said that the woman is in a relationship with Gerson Fuentes.
TORRES:
He’s her partner. And he is the father of the child she is carrying in her womb right now.
VARGAS PION: So the woman is pregnant.
TORRES: Yes.
VARGAS PION: Throughout our exclusive interview with the woman who says that she is the girl's mother, we pressed her on whether 27-year-old Gerson Fuentes was the minor's rapist. She replied without hesitation.
MOTHER: Everything that they are saying against him is a lie.
A horrendous story just got more awful. As I suspected, the victim’s mother is in a domestic relationship with the confessed rapist, there are two other children in the household and another on the way.The child herself identified the rapist to law enforcement a week after the abortion and two weeks after the rape was reported to authorities.
The question has to be asked- why did the child remain in the household a full two weeks after the rape was reported?
What other horrors will we learn of by the time this story is fully told?
One more thing: why isn’t NBC reporting news broken by its Telemundo assets?
Click “expand” to view the transcript of the full report as aired on Noticias Telemundo on Friday, July 15th, 2022:
JOHANA SUAREZ: The mother of a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who traveled to Indiana to have an abortion opened her doors to Noticias Telemundo. In an exclusive, she told us that they live in the same residence as the man who is being held in an Ohio jail, charged with abusing the minor. Authorities say that the girl was the one who pointed out her rapist. María Vargas Pión has this story for us.
Mother: It's my daughter. But I haven't charged him with anything.
MARIA VARGAS PION: Hiding her face, this woman who opened for us the door of the home where the police confirm that Gerson Fuentes lives- charged with raping a 10-year-old girl, identified herself as the mother of the minor and assured us that he is innocent.
VARGAS PION: Do you, as the girl's mother, think that he is innocent?
MOTHER: Of course.
VARGAS PION: Then why is he in jail?
MOTHER: I don't know, but I don't really want to talk.
VARGAS PION: Telemundo News confirmed with two people who know her that she is indeed the girl's mother; including Daisy Torres, who claims that they both frequent a common nightclub.
After seeing photos and video images recorded with our cameras, she confirmed this.
Is that her?
DAISY TORRES:It's her. Yes. That’s right.
VARGAS PION: And you say that she is the mother of the 10-year-old girl who was raped.
TORRES: Yes, it is (REDACTED). The girl's mother.
VARGAS PION: She also said that the lady is in a relationship with Gerson Fuentes.
TORRES: He’s her partner. And he is the father of the child she is carrying in her womb right now.
VARGAS PION: So the woman is pregnant.
TORRES: Yes.
VARGAS PION: During our exclusive interview with the woman who says that she is the girl's mother, we pressed her on whether 27-year-old Gerson Fuentes was the minor's rapist. She replied without hesitation.
MOTHER: Everything they are saying against him is a lie.
VARGAS PION: The minor, who according to the authorities was 9 years old when she became pregnant, had barely turned 10 and was already 6 weeks and 3 days pregnant when she had to travel from Ohio to Indianapolis in order to have an abortion. This is the same minor that President Joe Biden mentioned a few days ago while presenting the executive order to provide access to abortion after the repeal of the Roe v. Wade ruling.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Just imagine being that little girl…10 years old.
VARGAS PION: With the ruling, the law in Ohio prohibits abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy regardless of whether it is rape or incest. The mother said that the minor is fine, that Gerson, of Guatemalan origin, lived in the same residence with them, although she did not specify the link between them. After continuing to defend him, we pressed her.
VARGAS PION: And how is it that he says yes, that he raped her?
MOTHER: I don't know, I couldn't answer that question.
VARGAS PION: Because during the hearing he confessed that he had done it twice.
MOTHER: I can't answer that question.
VARGAS PION: During the first court hearing, the detective in the case stated that the mother was the one who reported that her daughter was pregnant. But it was not disclosed whether the mother reported the suspect. When the detective went to the family home to take DNA tests from the girl's two siblings, it was the minor who identified Gerson Fuentes as her rapist.
DETECTIVE: During that contact, the victim acknowledged that Gerson Fuentes was in fact the father of the pregnancy.
VARGAS PION: The detective also explained that Gerson confessed to the crime.
DETECTIVE: He consented, waived his rights, and spoke with us, and admitted to having vaginal intercourse with the victim on no less than two occasions.
VARGAS PION: The DNA test that was also performed on the fetus is in process. Meanwhile, Gerson Fuentes is in jail and a bail of 2 million dollars has been set. Immigration authorities confirmed that Fuentes is in the country without legal immigration documents. They expressed via a statement that Fuentes is currently under custody of local authorities in the Franklin County Jail. Fuentes has no prior immigration history.
The bail was set at that amount, two million dollars, because the judge alleged that she fears that Gerson will flee the country, and because she fears for the safety of the minor. He is due here in court on the 22nd of this month. In Columbus, Ohio: Maria Vargas Pion, Noticias Telemundo.
