Man who took girl from Georgia to Ohio pleads guilty to rape
NEW PHILADLEPHIA – The 35-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who took a young girl from Georgia to Dover to be his girlfriend will be sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to rape and other charges.
Antonio Agustin is scheduled to be sentenced on two counts of rape, one count of gross sexual imposition, and two counts of pandering, all felonies.
Police and Sheriff’s deputies arrested Agustin in July after he was spotted at the Dover pool with a 12-year-old girl who had been reported missing from Gainesville, Ga. Her disappearance in May of 2024 sparked a huge response in Hall County, Ga., and beyond, with billboards and searches in eight states.
Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell says Agustin could face additional charges in Georgia, but the severity of the crimes committed in Ohio received precedence.
Investigators got a break in the case about eight weeks after the girl went missing when she contacted her father on Facebook. That allowed investigators to track a cell phone to Dover, where she and Agustin were first seen at the pool.
Deputies followed them to Walmart in New Philadelphia where they arrested Agustin and recovered the girl.
Campbell said the girl left home willingly after connecting with Agustin online. However, she was only 12, so the crimes are significant.
Agustin has been held in the Tuscarawas County Jail without bail since then.
Agustin initially pleaded not guilty but changed his plea last week following competency and sanity evaluations and prior to a scheduled April 9 jury trial.