French police have issued a rare international appeal for victims and witnesses in the case of a 79-year-old former teacher accused of raping and sexually assaulting 89 children across five continents. The alleged crimes span from the 1960s until 2022, with the suspect, Jacques Leveugle, having worked in multiple countries including Germany, Switzerland, Morocco, Niger, Algeria, the Philippines, India, Colombia, and New Caledonia.
Leveugle, who has been in pretrial detention in France since April 2025, is described by police as a “textbook example” of a serial sexual offender. He worked as a tutor, teacher, sports monitor, and educator in children's homes, targeting boys aged 13 to 17. The case came to light after a digital “memoir” found on a USB drive by a nephew was turned over to authorities, containing 15 volumes of texts detailing his activities.
In addition to the sexual offences, Leveugle has told police he killed his terminally ill mother in the 1970s and his 92-year-old aunt in the 1990s by suffocating them with pillows. He justified the acts by saying he would want someone to do the same for him in a similar end-of-life situation.
Prosecutor Étienne Manteaux urged potential victims to come forward, stating the investigation needs to be closed by 2026 to allow for a trial within a reasonable timeframe. The French gendarmerie has released an online appeal with photos of Leveugle at different ages and a list of countries where he lived and worked.
