A gendarme was sentenced to six months in prison suspended by the criminal court of Valence (Drôme) after using the cell phone numbers of women, crossed during his investigations, to make sexual advances to them by SMS, reports France Blue.
Stationed in Montélimar between 2017 and 2019, this gendarme hijacked the personal data of ten women, who had left their contact details as part of a procedure, as a victim or witness.
The gendarme even called on a young woman coming out of police custody and a volunteer firefighter, who intervened in a traffic accident.
Up to 300 messages to a single woman
After a first message of approach (always the same, notes the radio: "I find you charming"), the requests became more explicit, sometimes accompanied by photos of a sexual nature.
The gendarme sent up to 300 messages in a few weeks to the same woman.
If the facts of harassment were not retained - "I was a little heavy, but I never insisted", had defended the gendarme at the bar - the soldier was condemned for the misappropriation of personal data to six months suspended prison sentence, with a ban on practicing his profession for 6 months.
He will also have to pay a thousand euros in damages to two victims.
The gendarme, who was transferred out of the department after the fact, had also received administrative penalties, according to France Bleu.