French Prosecutors Name Suspect in 89-Minor Assault Case

In Grenoble, France, prosecutors on Tuesday publicly identified 79-year-old Jacques Leveugle as the suspect in a decades-long case involving the sexual assault of 89 minors across multiple countries, urging potential victims and witnesses to come forward with information.

Étienne Manteaux, the lead prosecutor in Grenoble, announced the charges of aggravated assault and sexual assault against Leveugle during a news conference. The suspect, born in 1946 in the Alpine town of Annecy, has been in pretrial detention since his indictment in February 2024. Authorities described the case as unusually extensive, spanning from 1967 to 2022 and involving boys aged 13 to 17 at the time of the alleged crimes. Leveugle worked as a freelance educator in various roles, including French teacher and speleology instructor, during his travels.

The investigation began after Leveugle's nephew discovered a USB drive containing the suspect's personal writings, described by Manteaux as 15 dense volumes of memoirs. The documents detailed sexual relations with the 89 identified minors but often included incomplete personal details, hindering efforts to locate all victims without public assistance. "This...