The president of a painting academy was sentenced to death by a court in East China's Anhui province on Sunday for raping 23 females, including five underage girls.

The man, surnamed Huo, had approached females on the Internet since 2005 and forced them to meet him for sex by sending digitally edited nude pictures to the victims, the Anhui Business Daily reported.

The verdict from the intermediate court in Chuzhou city said the defendant used pseudonyms on the internet network QQ to befriend schoolgirls and obtained their identities and addresses from 2005 to 2011.

He also sent pornography and edited digital pictures to them, and threatened them if they did not meet him. The victims who met him were taken to hotels, where he raped them and videotaped the rapes.

He told the victims not to go to the police, saying he would upload the videos to the Internet or to their schools if they did.

He raped 23 females 28 times, including five underage girls eight times, the court's verdict said.

The defendant has appealed the sentence.