A man suspected of fraud was arrested, at his home in Fréjus (Var), and placed in police custody on Monday.
With a faithful of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire basilica in Saint-Raphaël, he passed himself off as a false priest, director of an orphanage in Benin.
The suspect led his victim to believe that the institution lacked the money to recruit a teacher.
Persuaded to participate in a good cause, the woman would have been relieved of several thousand euros during the summer.
She filed a complaint against the alleged crook in early October.
Already condemned several times
While in police custody, the man denied these accusations.
The one who called himself Don Romano or Brother Marie-Joseph had already been the subject of a complaint.
The parish of Fréjus - Saint-Raphaël had denounced a usurpation of identity and function, reports
Var-Matin
.
The false priest had indeed managed to serve mass since the end of July.
Referred at the end of his police custody, he must be tried in immediate appearance this Wednesday at the Draguignan court.
The Var has already been sentenced more than twenty times in the past.
Justice
Indre-et-Loire: He had usurped the identity of ten namesakes in order to touch the Covid solidarity fund
Miscellaneous
Nantes: He made everyone believe (even his wife) that he was a gendarme
Frejus
Religion
Identity theft
Fraud