Serial rape of dozens of minors : a 79-year-old French man has been charged with the rape and aggravated sexual assault of 89 minors, as well as the asphyxiation of his mother and aunt between the 1970s and 1990s . The number of sexual victims, claimed between 1967 and 2022 across the globe, is based on writings found on a USB stick , a sort of inventory of the abused youths in "15 very dense volumes" compiled by the predator.

At a press conference, Grenoble's Attorney General, Etienne Manteaux, insisted on disclosing his identity: Jacques Leveugle, born in 1946 in Annecy, in the French Alps . The aim is to allow other potential victims to come forward before sentencing. The abuse of minors, aged between 13 and 17, was allegedly perpetrated not only in France but also in Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Morocco, Niger, Algeria, the Philippines, India, Colombia, and New Caledonia for over 50 years. Leveugle "traveled these different countries, establishing himself in each of them, as a school counselor or teacher. A way of approaching young people and having sexual relations," the prosecutor specified, describing him as a "cultured and charismatic" man who operated through "intellectual seduction" and "irony." He clarified that he saw himself "as an ancient Greek intent on educating young ephebes."

The alarm was raised in 2022 by his nephew, who discovered his uncle's horror-filled USB stick and handed it over to the Vizille (Isère) police station. The commander of the Grenoble investigation unit, Serge Procédès, called it "a classic case of serial crime." During the investigation, Leveugle, among other things, acknowledged murdering his terminally ill mother with a pillow in the early 1970s, then his ninety-two-year-old aunt in the 1990s, using the same technique. Before investigators, he stated that he considered both murders "legitimate," "considering that he himself would want the same treatment if he were to find himself at the end of his life." The two murders are the subject of a separate investigation from the youth abuse case.

In this case, approximately 150 people have already testified since 2022, but the judges are urging other victims to come forward as soon as possible . "Time is running out," Manteaux urges, pointing out the defendant's age and the statute of limitations, which risks excluding violence perpetrated before 1993. "If any victims want to come forward, let them do so now, because this case will need to be closed in 2026 if we truly want to convict him within a reasonable timeframe," he warned. The former teacher, with no criminal record, has been placed in pretrial detention since February 2024.

(Unioneonline)

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