Ex-French Teacher Charged Over Alleged Sexual Abuse Of 89 Minors

French prosecutors have charged a 79-year-old former educator over allegations of aggravated rape and sexual assault involving 89 minors across several countries over a period spanning more than five decades.

At a press briefing on Tuesday in the southeastern city of Grenoble, prosecutor Etienne Manteaux disclosed that the suspect was indicted in 2024 for crimes allegedly committed between 1967 and 2022. He said the briefing was aimed at drawing public attention to the case and encouraging witnesses or additional victims to come forward.

In a rare step, authorities publicly identified the suspect as Jacques Leveugle, born in 1946 in Annecy, an Alpine town near Grenoble. Manteaux said Leveugle has remained in custody since his indictment last year.

According to prosecutors, the alleged offences took place in several countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Morocco, Niger, Algeria, the Philippines, India, Colombia, and France’s overseas territory of New Caledonia. During this period, Leveugle reportedly worked as a freelance teacher and instructor.

Manteaux said the suspect held various roles, including French language teacher and speleology instructor, a discipline related to the study and exploration of caves.

Investigators established the number of alleged victims from extensive written records found on a USB drive belonging to the suspect. The documents reportedly describe “sexual relations” with minors aged between 13 and 17 and were compiled into what the prosecutor described as 15 volumes.

The USB device was discovered by Leveugle’s nephew, who had begun questioning his uncle’s emotional and sexual life, according to the prosecution.

In a further development, Manteaux revealed that during the investigation, the suspect confessed to killing two relatives decades earlier. He allegedly suffocated his terminally ill mother with a pillow in the 1970s and later killed his 92-year-old aunt in a similar manner in the 1990s.

The prosecutor added that in his personal writings, described as “memoirs,” the suspect acknowledged that he had “killed two people.”

The case remains under investigation.