French police have issued an unusual 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 from the 1960s until 2022.
Police in Grenoble described Jacques Leveugle, who has been in pretrial detention in France since April 2025, as a “textbook example” of a serial sexual offender. The case is unusually vast, spanning multiple countries from Germany to India over more than five decades.
The Grenoble prosecutor, Étienne Manteaux, stated that Leveugle also told police he had killed his terminally ill mother and later his elderly aunt by suffocating them with pillows.
Manteaux appealed for potential victims and witnesses to contact French police, noting that Leveugle had worked with children in Germany, Switzerland, Morocco, Niger, Algeria, the Philippines, India, Colombia, and the French overseas territory of New Caledonia from the 1960s to 2022.
“He traveled to these different countries, and in every place he settled to work as a tutor or teacher, he met young people,” Manteaux said. Leveugle, who was born in the Alpine town of Annecy, appeared “cultured and charismatic” and groomed children, according to the prosecutor.
Despite never obtaining an official teaching qualification, Leveugle worked as an educator from the 1960s. He also worked as a sports instructor in canyoning and caving, and in youth camps. He worked with young offenders in Germany, took many tutoring jobs, and was an educator in a children’s home in Bogotá, Colombia.
The French gendarmerie issued an online appeal showing pictures of Leveugle at different ages and listing the countries where he had lived.
Leveugle was placed under formal investigation in France in February 2024 for aggravated rape and the sexual assault of minors and has been held in pretrial detention since last April.
The case centers on Leveugle’s own writings about his activities with children, which investigators say he compiled in a digital “memoir” found on a USB drive by a nephew and handed over to authorities.
Prosecutors say the 15 volumes of texts written by Leveugle enabled investigators to identify 89 alleged victims—boys aged 13 to 17 at the time of the alleged assaults—from 1967 to 2022.
French police are seeking to reach further potential victims or witnesses in the countries where Leveugle worked. “If victims want to come forward, they should do that now because we need to close this investigation in 2026 in order to hold a trial in a reasonable time frame,” Manteaux said.
Leveugle’s record-keeping on his computer echoes the case last year of former French surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec, who was sentenced to 20 years for sexually abusing hundreds of patients, mostly under 15, in the biggest child abuse trial in French history. Le Scouarnec also kept records on his computer. Victims and child rights advocates said his case highlighted systemic flaws that allowed him to commit sexual crimes repeatedly without being detected.
According to the prosecutor, Leveugle told police he suffocated his mother, a terminally ill cancer patient, with a pillow in the 1970s. He also said he suffocated his 92-year-old aunt with a pillow in the 1990s.
Manteaux said Leveugle described wanting to go home after visiting his aunt, who had begged him to stay. “He decided to kill her too, so while she was asleep, he took a pillow and suffocated her,” the prosecutor said.
In his “memoirs,” Leveugle wrote that he had “killed two people,” Manteaux added.
The suspect “justifies his actions by saying that he would like someone to do the same for him if he found himself in this end-of-life situation,” the prosecutor said.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the case structured from basic to more advanced questions
Basic Facts Definitions
1 What is this case about
A former French teacher identified as Franois D is accused of sexually abusing and raping 89 children over a period of nearly 20 years while working at international schools in Asia and Africa France has issued an international arrest warrant for him
2 Who is the accused person
He is a 58yearold French national French media following legal conventions have identified him as Franois D He was a teacher and sports coach at Frenchrun international schools
3 Where did these alleged crimes happen
The accusations span his postings at French schools in several countries including Myanmar Libya and Malaysia
4 What is an international arrest warrant
Its a formal request from one country to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person so they can be extradited to face trial
Case Details Process
5 Why is France involved if the crimes happened abroad
France has laws that allow it to prosecute its own citizens for serious crimes committed overseas especially crimes against children The victims are also of multiple nationalities
6 How did this come to light
An investigation was launched in 2022 after a former student came forward This triggered a wider probe leading to the identification of dozens of alleged victims through school records and testimonies
7 Where is the suspect now
His current location is publicly unknown which is why France has issued the international warrant There is speculation he may be in a country in Africa or Asia
8 What charges does he face
He is formally charged with rape sexual assault and corruption of minors The scale makes it one of the largest such cases in French judicial history
Broader Implications Advanced Questions
9 Why is this case considered so significant
The sheer number of alleged victims and the long period of alleged abuse point to potential systemic failures in oversight by the schools and the agency that hires teachers for French schools abroad
10 What are the AEFE and MLF and what is their role
The AEFE
