A Chinese national has been arrested after allegedly drugging a 71-year-old American woman who rented out his Airbnb apartment in Paris in order to attend the Olympic Games.
The suspect is already known to the French court system, and police say he drugged the victim after pouring a substance into her glass of water.
The man was indicted on Aug. 1 for the alleged rape, which occurred on July 25, a day before the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympic Games., according to a police source and a source from the Paris prosecutor’s office who spoke with French news outlet Le Figaro.
According to prosecutors, the woman, who uses a wheelchair, went to rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis and collected her keys for her Airbnb apartment. She already lived in France for several years, but wanted to rent an apartment closer to the opening ceremony.
The suspect met her and offered her a glass of water, and prosecutors say he then poured a drug into her water. The woman felt unwell and then laid down inside the apartment. She complained of her leg hurting, at which point the suspect allegedly said he was a physiotherapist and began massaging her leg. She fell asleep and woke up two hours later with her pants torn off. She then filed a complaint alleging she was raped at a police station.
The man, who was born in China in 1984, was arrested on July 29. The police say he has been arrested for pimping and importing drugs. His home was searched and police found a bottle with an “unknown liquid.”
He has now been charged with two counts of rape.
The Paris prosecutor’s office stated that the “crime carries a penalty of 20 years in prison.”