A Paris court has sentenced a man to 18 years in prison for twelve rapes and three cases of sexual abuse.
Several French media outlets reported the sentence in the high profile trial on Friday evening, saying he had been acquitted on two further counts, because of insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
On dating platforms and on social media, the man had posed as a fashion photographer looking for models and approached the women using an established pattern. The investigators described his modus operandus as "particularly organized" and "industrialized."
The photographer had been accused of luring mostly young women to his photo studio in 2015 and 2016 and using alcohol to put them in a defenceless state. The victims reported being abnormally intoxicated, which the court said likely indicated their drinks had been drugged.
The court said traces of substances were found in nine of the 17 complainants, according to a toxicology expert.
The perpetrator then allegedly pressured the women to take revealing photos, in order to ultimately abuse them.
According to the broadcaster France Info, the court found it particularly worrying that the man preyed on such a large number of women.
The prosecution had demanded 19 years' imprisonment for the man dubbed the "Tinder rapist" by the French media.
The prosecution considered the fact that the accused simply continued his scam after his release from custody in 2019 and allegedly abused more women to be an aggravating factor. He therefore faces a second trial.
The accused denied the allegations and said in court that the young women had responded to his sexual advances. The man in his late 30s had denied the charges saying that the women had consented, and that he was not a monster.