BERLIN (AP) - A court in southwestern Germany has convicted a train conductor of sexually abusing several children on 218 occasions between 2013 and 2017.

The Freiburg regional court sentenced the 48-year-old German man on Monday to seven years and six months in prison.

The defendant, who name wasn't released due to German privacy rules, had approached boys between 12 and 17 who were travelling in trains he worked on. According to the Badische Zeitung newspaper, his victims included a 17-year-old refugee.

Prosecutors alleged the defendant groomed his victims with cigarettes and alcohol, later demanding sex from them to pay off their alleged "debts." The court took into account a suspended sentence that the man had received for similar offenses in 2016.

The defendant, who confessed his crimes in court, can appeal the verdict.

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