French authorities are taking the unusual step of naming a 79-year-old former teacher they say abused minors across five continents, hoping to hear from anyone else he may have targeted. Prosecutors in Grenoble on Tuesday publicly identified Jacques Leveugle as the man charged with raping or sexually assaulting 89 boys, ages 13 to 17, between 1967 and 2022, in Germany, India, Colombia, and many other countries worldwide, per Euronews. He has been in custody since 2024 and, according to prosecutor Etienne Manteaux, has described himself as a "gentleman boy-lover" who Manteaux says would "intellectually seduce" teenagers he tutored or instructed. The AP notes he has worked in schools and as a private tutor, and also as a cave-exploring guide. Per the Guardian, Leveugle was never officially certified to teach.
Investigators say red flags first went up in 2022, when Leveugle's nephew turned over USB drives containing what Manteaux called 15 "very dense" volumes of writings, per Euronews. Police stress the alleged abuse involved "moral coercion" rather than physical violence and say they're racing against the clock: The judicial investigation must wrap up this year. Leveugle has also admitted smothering his terminally ill mother and a 92-year-old aunt decades ago, which he reportedly framed as mercy killings. Around 150 people have been interviewed so far; only two have joined the case as civil parties, and authorities are urging unidentified victims—some known only by nicknames in the files—to come forward. Leveugle is said to have no previous criminal record. (The woman at the center of another famous French sex-abuse case has a new memoir out.)
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