German prosecutors have charged a 69-year-old man with repeatedly raping his daughter for 34 years and fathering three children with her.

Prosecutors Tuesday charged the pensioner from Nuremberg in the southern state of Bavaria with 497 counts of rape. They say he is suspected of first forcing his daughter to have sex with him when she was only 12 years old and then abusing her several times a week for the next three decades. Two of the three sons he fathered with her later died.

The crime was uncovered when the daughter, now 46, was convicted of an unrelated crime and confided in her parole officer.

Prosecutors say the man, who has been in custody since March, admits to having sex with his daughter but says it was consensual.

The case is reminiscent of that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man who was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 after being found guilty of keeping his daughter locked up in a cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children. Fritzl also was convicted of murder for the death of his daughter's infant son, who was not given medical care after becoming ill.