Six, Including Five Minors, Charged in Vosges Robbery and Abduction Case

Overview

• Prosecutors in Épinal charged six suspects, including five minors, in a case announced Friday after Saint-Dié police arrested them earlier in the week.
• The group is accused of a series of attacks in the Saint-Dié area between late December and early February that left nine teenagers identified as victims.
• Investigators say the assailants forced victims into cars, beat them in nearby forests, or drove them to ATMs to withdraw cash, stealing phones and earphones.
• The suspects are five adolescents born between 2008 and 2010 and a young adult born in 2006, with the minors previously unknown to the courts and the adult already convicted for aggravated violence.
• Police said some suspects confessed in custody, while others exercised their right to remain silent.