Jacques Leveugle beneath investigation in France for sexual assault of 89 minors

[ad_1] PARIS (AP) — A French prosecutor on Tuesday made public the id of a 79-year-old man accused of raping and sexually assaulting 89 minors over greater than 5 many years, launching an enchantment for witnesses and potential victims in what authorities described as an unusually sprawling case spanning a number of nations.

Grenoble prosecutor Étienne Manteaux mentioned the suspect, Jacques Leveugle, additionally acknowledged killing his mom and aunt, prompting a parallel investigation.

Laveugle was positioned beneath formal investigation in February 2024 for aggravated rape and sexual assault of minors and has been held in pretrial detention since April 2025. Laveugle had labored in colleges, as a non-public tutor and as a cave exploring information amongst different roles, the prosecutor mentioned.

The serial rape case hinges on writings investigators say had been compiled by the suspect himself in a digital “memoir” discovered on a USB drive by a relative, and later turned over to authorities.

Prosecutors say the texts — described as 15 volumes — enabled investigators to establish 89 alleged victims, boys aged 13 to 17 on the time of the alleged assaults, from 1967 to 2022.

Manteaux mentioned the suspect’s writings describe sexual acts with minors in a number of nations, together with Switzerland, Germany, Morocco, Algeria, Niger, the Philippines and India, in addition to the French territory of New Caledonia.

He added that he selected to publicize the person’s identify to encourage different victims to talk out. Folks beneath investigation in France are usually not usually named.

“This identify have to be recognized as a result of the objective is to permit potential victims to return ahead,” he mentioned at a information convention.

Authorities arrange a hotline and launched photographs of Laveugle over the many years, and mentioned anybody who believes they had been a sufferer or has info ought to contact them.

The prosecutor mentioned investigators had hoped to establish all alleged victims with out a public enchantment, however discovered that the paperwork typically contained incomplete identities, complicating efforts to find folks many years later.

“We thought we'd have the opportunity, internally, to establish all of the victims,” Manteaux mentioned, however “we realized we had been up towards a wall.”

Manteaux additionally mentioned the suspect has acknowledged smothering his mom to demise when she was within the terminal part of most cancers, and later killing his 92-year-old aunt.

Relating to the aunt, Manteaux mentioned the suspect advised investigators that “as a result of he needed to return to the Cévennes (area of France) and he or she begged him to not depart, he additionally selected to place her to demise.”

France continues to be reeling from the Gisèle Pelicot case, one of many nation’s most shocking recent sexual violence trials , wherein a husband was convicted of drugging his spouse and recruiting dozens of males to rape her over years. In each circumstances, investigators say, a digital path proved decisive — recordings and information in Pelicot’s case, and the USB drive within the Grenoble investigation.

Manteaux emphasised the necessity to transfer shortly in investigating Laveugle’s alleged rapes.

“There's urgency,” he mentioned on RTL radio, citing the suspect’s age and the issue of tracing victims throughout 55 years.

Investigators mentioned the alleged assaults occurred in France and in overseas nations, the place authorities say the person labored as an educator.

He spent a few years in Morocco working as a tutor for low-income households, the place he's suspected of abusing not less than 10 victims, the prosecutor advised The Related Press in a written assertion. Laveugle’s stays in Morocco spanned from 1974 to 2024, and he was residing within the North African nation when he was arrested upon a return journey to France.

Laveugle lived in Algeria in 1967-1969 and 1971-1975, the place he labored as a trainer and is suspected of abusing not less than two kids, the assertion mentioned.

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Akram Oubachir in Rabat, Morocco contributed to this report.

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