A 17-year-old minor was indicted Wednesday evening for rape and sexual assault on four teenage girls in a private training establishment in Saint-Flour (Cantal) where they were boarders, said the Clermont-Ferrand prosecutor's office.
"The facts occurred over a period of about a year and a half when the adolescents were between 15 and 16 years old," Eric Maillaud, public prosecutor of Clermont-Ferrand told AFP.
The victims are "ex-girlfriends" of the suspect: "a first filed a complaint for rape and on this occasion, other young girls indicated that they were themselves victims of sexual assault or rape", he added.
They spoke of "threats of revelation about their sexual relations and threats to tarnish their reputation from the young man in order to obtain their favors", according to him.
Other wanted victims
The alleged rapist "is in a semi-denial, he admits that they might not quite agree."
The investigation carried out by the Saint-Flour gendarmes is continuing as part of a judicial investigation to identify other potential victims, he added, confirming the information from the regional daily La Montagne.
The teenager, who returned to his family in Lyon, was placed under judicial supervision, with a ban on contacting the victims and the establishment.