The mayor of Montgardin, a village in the Hautes-Alpes, was indicted on Saturday March 27 for rape and sexual assault.
Facts for which seven young girls have lodged a complaint and which he has recognized, according to the Grenoble prosecutor's office.
Read also: Nîmes: five minors indicted for the rape of two teenage girls
Aged 69, the city councilor was arrested at home and taken into custody Thursday as part of a preliminary investigation opened two weeks ago in Gap, as the regional daily
Le Dauphiné Libéré
had mentioned on Friday
.
Several young girls, aged 10 to 15, denounced acts of sexual assault and a 16-year-old denounced a rape - a digital penetration that took place in 2018 -, according to the prosecution.
Seven have filed a complaint.
Read also: After breaking the omerta of sexual assault in the Church, The Liberated Word dissolves
"
They blame the mayor of Montgardin for having welcomed them to his home for snacks, during which he took the opportunity to give them '' hugs ''
" by caressing their thighs, buttocks or chest, or by grabbing them by the hips, detailed the prosecutor of Grenoble in a press release.
"
Some of the facts denounced are recent
" and go back to early March, "
others would have been committed a few months and several years earlier,
" a source close to the investigation said on Friday.
Read also: Sexual abuse: an American university will pay more than a billion dollars in compensation
A judicial investigation was opened and the defendant, who admitted the facts, was indicted for sexual assault on minors of 15 years, rape of minors over 15 years and possession of child pornography images.
He faces 20 years of criminal imprisonment.
The elected official was remanded in custody.