A French senator was arrested this Thursday on suspicion of drugging a female deputy to commit a sexual assault, radio station RMC reported. The senator is the independent Joël Guerriau, who was interrogated at his home by agents of the Judicial Police and subsequently placed under arrest.
The police action stems from a complaint from a deputy, whose identity has not been disclosed, who stated that, during a visit to the senator’s home yesterday, Wednesday, she began to feel ill after drinking a glass of water that Guerriau had offered her.
The legislator hastily left the senator’s home and went to a hospital, where an analysis confirmed the presence of ecstasy in her system, adds the RMC information. The media adds that the agents who came to question Guerriau found ecstasy at his home.
The alleged crime for which the senator has been arrested, supplying a person with substances that alter their judgment to commit a sexual assault, can lead to a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.
Guerriau, 66, has been a senator since 2011 for the department of Loire-Atlantique (west) and is currently vice-president of the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Commission of the French Upper House.
Neither the Senate nor its president, Gérard Larcher, have yet issued reactions to this case.
