Kiely Rodni case: California sex offender arrested on unrelated charge as result of search for missing girl

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Two weeks after the suspicious disappearance and possible abduction of California 16-year-old Kiely Rodni, the investigation led to the arrest of a local sex offender on unrelated charges, police say.

"The operation, which occurred on Thursday, Aug. 18, resulted in several sex registrants being found in violation of their terms, with one arrest being made and criminal charges to be filed on another," the Placer County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday morning. "The Truckee Police Department routinely conducts similar sweeps and is committed to aggressively pursuing prosecution of those offenders found to be out of compliance with any probation or parole terms."

Rodni’s unsolved disappearance prompted the compliance checks, but the arrests were not directly related to her case, according to investigators. Truckee police did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the arrested suspect.

Across state lines in nearby Incline, Nevada, deputies performed a similar check on a sex offender Wednesday but said it had no connection to Rodni’s disappearance. Back in California, a mutli-agency task force investigating the girl's case is also asking additional witnesses to come forward. 

KIELY RODNI: CALIFORNIA POLICE ‘MODIFYING’ SEARCH EFFORT NEXT WEEK AS FEW SIGNS OF MISSING TEEN EMERGE

A missing person flyer for Kiely Rodni at the Tahoe National Forest, where she was last seen at a party on Aug. 6. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)

Rodni was last seen at an outdoor party within the Tahoe National Forest that stretched from the evening of Aug. 5 into Aug. 6. 

The 16-year-old early high school graduate was drinking and "partying" with friends and was likely too inebriated to drive, one partygoer, 18-year-old Sami Smith, told Fox News Digital.

MISSING KIELY RODNI: MASSIVE SEARCH AS FRIENDS REVEAL TEEN'S LAST KNOWN FOOTSTEPS IN POSSIBLE ABDUCTION CASE

There were about 200 to 300 people in attendance, mostly juveniles and young adults, according to the Place County Sheriff’s Office.

Of those, detectives have interviewed between a third and half of them, according to Angela Musallam, the sheriff’s public information officer.

On Tuesday, the sheriff's office shared a surveillance image that showed Rodni's outfit on the night she went missing. (Findkiely.com, Placer County Sheriff)

"Although our detectives have interviewed over 100 partygoers, they would still like some more cooperation," she told Fox News Digital Friday.

Investigators have still not been able to speak with anyone who actually saw Rodni leaving, and the sheriff’s office is asking for anyone who has not yet spoken with detectives to do so. Authorities are also asking for people to continue submitting tips, including videos and photos taken at the party. 

Rodni texted her mother around midnight saying she was headed home. At 12:33 a.m. on Aug. 6, her phone last pinged near the site of the party, a clearing in the woods between the Prosser Family Campground and Prosser Creek Reservoir outside Truckee, California.

MISSING KIELY RODNI: INVESTIGATORS FIND NEW VIDEO OF VANISHED TEEN ON NIGHT OF PARTY; REWARD INCREASES TO $75K

Kiely Rodni's SUV is also missing – a silver 2013 Honda CRV with California license plate 8YUR127. It has a small ram-head sticker on the back window, under her rear wiper blade. (Findkiely.com)

More than a week of searches focused on the immediate and surrounding areas turned up no signs of Rodni. Her vehicle, a silver 2013 Honda CRV with a ram head sticker under the rear windshield wiper, is also unaccounted for, police say.

MISSING KIELY RODNI'S MOTHER SAYS AMBER ALERT ‘SHOULD HAVE BEEN ISSUED IMMEDIATELY,’ WANTS TO STAY ‘POSITIVE’

The Placer County Sheriff's Office says Kiely Rodni appeared on video earlier in the night she went missing wearing a pink and white "Odd Future" hoodie. (Placer County Sheriff's Office, FindKiely.com)

The party also included visitors from out of town, and Musallam said that "the majority of them" have been identified.

Investigators said Monday they were scaling down the massive search effort, which involved days of aerial surveillance and dive teams, to a task force-based investigation.

"We are still looking for any clues, videos, tips, any information to help us to put pieces together and help us to direct where we're going and how we're going to continue to do a search," Capt. Sam Brown, of the Nevada County Sheriff's Office, said during a news briefing.

MISSING KIELY RODNI: A TIMELINE OF THE 16-YEAR-OLD'S DISAPPEARANCE FROM CAMPGROUND PARTY

Kiely Rodni was last seen on Aug. 6 at the Prosser Family Campground in Truckee, California. (findkiely.com)

Rodni is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall and about 118 pounds. She has blonde hair and hazel eyes. She has a tattoo on her ribs of the number "17." She has a nose ring and several other piercings and was wearing three gold necklaces the night she went missing, according to her friends.

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She was wearing green Dickies pants, a black studded belt and a black spaghetti-strap bodysuit, according to authorities. And she was seen on video in a pink and white hoodie reading "ODD FUTURE" earlier on Aug. 5. She may have also been in possession of a dark gray hoodie with Lana Del Rey lyrics.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Placer County Sheriff’s Office’s dedicated tip line at 530-581-6320. Callers can remain anonymous.

There is a $75,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.

Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to michael.ruiz@fox.com and on Twitter: @mikerreports

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/kiely-rodni-case-california-sex-offender-arrested-on-unrelated-charge-as-result-of-search-for-missing-girl/?feed_id=13135&_unique_id=62ffd6e5a5ba3

No bond for accused rapist of girl who traveled for abortion

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A man accused of raping and impregnating a 9-year-old Ohio girl who traveled to Indiana for an abortion was ordered held without bond Thursday by a judge who cited overwhelming evidence and the fact that he apparently is living in the U.S. illegally.

Gerson Fuentes, 27, faces two counts of raping the girl, who turned 10 before having the abortion in a case that has become a flashpoint in the national discussion about access to the procedure 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 with no chance of parole. That penalty and “not having any ties to this community that can be proved legally makes it a substantial flight risk,” Franklin County Judge Julie Lynch said after a 35-minute hearing.

The girl confirmed that Fuentes attacked 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 detective Jeffrey Huhn said in court Thursday.

Huhn said he was unable, when searching multiple databases, to find any 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 had been living in the same home with the girl and her mother.

“To allow him to return to that home, the traumatic and psychological impact would be undeserving to an alleged victim,” Lynch said. She also cited the “physical, and mental and emotional trauma” the girl suffered from enduring the rapes and the abortion, and finding her case at the center of the country's abortion debate.

The case gained national attention after an Indianapolis physician, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, said the child had to travel to Indiana due to Ohio banning abortions at the first detectable “fetal heartbeat” after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.

President Joe Biden cited the case when he signed an order July 8 trying to protect abortion access. Some conservatives and prominent Republicans, including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, cast doubt on the story initially, then condemned the attack after Fuentes was arrested.

Fuentes' attorney, Bryan Bowen, argued against a no-bond hearing and unsuccessfully asked Lynch to set a reasonable bond. He said there was no evidence that there was physical abuse outside of the rapes or that the girl had been put under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He also said that Fuentes had family ties in Columbus, that he had a job, and that there was no evidence of a criminal history. Fuentes has lived in the area about seven years.

“We've heard evidence about the nature of the offense, but we have not heard any evidence presented about any danger that Mr. Fuentes would pose to any particular person or to the community,” he said. He declined to comment after Lynch's ruling.

Dan Meyer, an assistant Franklin County prosecutor, said Thursday that Fuentes was providing for the girl's family, including her mother.

Columbus police learned about the girl’s pregnancy after her mother alerted Franklin County Children Services on June 22. Huhn said Fuentes confessed to raping the girl, who turned 10 on May 28, on two occasions.

The girl saw a Columbus-area doctor in late June with a plan to have an abortion locally, but that wasn’t possible due to the gestational age, determined to be six weeks and four days, Huhn testified.

Ohio's “heartbeat” abortion ban includes an exception only for an emergency that is life-threatening or involving a “serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”

Indiana’s Republican Senate leaders proposed a bill this month that would prohibit abortions from the time an egg is implanted in a uterus, with exceptions in cases of rape and incest and to protect the life of the mother. The proposal followed the controversy over the Ohio girl's abortion in Indiana.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/no-bond-for-accused-rapist-of-girl-who-traveled-for-abortion/?feed_id=3501&_unique_id=62e2d9ca785e4