TUSCARAWAS COUNTY, Ohio — The man who has been charged with kidnapping a Hall County girl and taking her to Ohio has pleaded guilty to the crimes committed against her there.
The Tuscarawas County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that Antonio Agustin Ailon, a Guatemalan native, appeared in court last week where he entered a negotiated guilty plea on two counts of statutory rape, two counts of pandering involving a minor and one count of gross sexual imposition.
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On Monday, prosecutors and defense attorneys jointly recommended a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole until he’s served 15 years in prison. The judge accepted that sentence.
The prosecutor’s office says Agustin Ailon will begin serving that sentence in the Ohio prison system.
In May 2024, 12-year-old Maria Gomez-Perez vanished from her Gainesville home. In late July, she was found with Agustin Ailon in Ohio.
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The Hall County Sheriff’s Office said Gomez-Perez met Agustin Ailon online and began chatting with him and other adult men through Facebook Messenger. She told him that she was unhappy and wanted to leave home.
On May 29, he drove from his Ohio home to Gainesville to pick Maria up and take her back to northeast Ohio where she remained until his arrest.
His guilty plea in Ohio only relates to the crimes committed there, the prosecutor’s office says. It does not affect the charges against him in Hall County, including Gomez-Perez’s kidnapping.
Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh with Channel 2 Action News saying he hopes to meet with the family to determine whether and when his office should pursue charges.
Darragh added that he’s grateful for a “significant sentence” for Agustin Ailon in Ohio.
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