A 79-year-old man in France was charged with the rape and sexual assault of about 89 teenagers in a serial abuse case, the French police alleged, which happened over multiple countries from 1962 until 2022.
Jacques Leveugle is currently in pretrial custody in southeast France after he was detained in April 2025. He was arrested after his nephew found a USB that detailed the man’s sexual relations with minors aged from 13 to 17.
France has now made an international appeal to the victims and witnesses in the case.
The USB contained 15 volumes of text written by Leveugle. Grenoble prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, told a news conference.
The French police are seeking to reach victims and witnesses to proceed with the trial.
“If victims want to come forward, they should do that now because we need to close this investigation in 2026 to hold a trial in a reasonable time frame,” Manteaux said.
The prosecutor said that Leveugle worked with children in Germany, Switzerland, Morocco, Niger, Algeria, the Philippines, India, Colombia and the French overseas territory of New Caledonia from the 1960s to 2022.
He worked as a teacher despite never gaining an official teaching qualification.
“He travelled in these different countries and in every place where he settled to work as a tutor, or teacher, he met young people,” he said. Leveugle had appeared “cultured and charismatic" and groomed children. He also worked as a sports monitor in canyoning and speleology, and in youth camps.
In Bogotá, Colombia, he worked as an educator in a children’s home.
The prosecutor also said that Leveugle told police officers that he killed his terminally ill mother and his elderly aunt by suffocating them with a pillow.
The French gendarmerie issued an online appeal showing what Leveugle looked like at different ages across many counties.
He was placed under investigation in February 2024 for aggravated rape and the sexual assault of minors.
