A 40-year-old man from Lucenay, a small village north of Lyon in southern France, has been formally charged with the rape and sexual abuse of at least 34 boys between the ages of three and nine. The alleged offences took place between 2020 and 2024 and came to light after several children told their parents what had happened, prompting police complaints.

According to investigators, the suspect used his own children's social circle to gain access to victims, inviting their classmates to sleepovers and birthday parties at his home. During these events he is accused of raping and sexually abusing the children — some while they were awake and some while they slept. Searches of his home uncovered more than 300 items of recorded material, including 127 videos and 197 photographs documenting the abuse. He is said to have filmed the acts using his mobile phone and a small camera concealed inside an alarm clock. The suspect has admitted to the majority of the offences and has reportedly told investigators that he was himself abused as a child.

The case broke open in December 2024, when the man was first arrested on suspicion of abusing three children. He was subsequently released — the reasons for that decision remain unclear. After his release, he wrote a letter to his children, relatives, and the families of the victims in which he expressed self-loathing and said he lacked the strength to speak about what he had done. He then attempted to take his own life and was saved by police officers. Following his hospitalisation, he confessed to a significantly larger number of offences and was taken back into custody. Investigators are also examining whether he may have administered powerful sedative drugs to some of the children.

Psychological and legal support has been made available to the affected families through the local primary school in Lucenay, which most of the victims attended. Specialist child interview officers were deployed to conduct the questioning of the young victims.

The case has drawn comparisons with a high-profile Dutch child abuse case in Barendrecht, in the Netherlands, where a man similarly exploited sleepover arrangements to abuse dozens of young children who were friends of his own kids. The scale and method of the French case underline how perpetrators can exploit trusted parental roles and ordinary social settings. Investigators say the inquiry is ongoing and the full extent of the abuse is still being established.