KHENIFRA: For decades in the Moroccan town of Khenifra, Jacques Leveugle was simply known as the thin Frenchman who swept the streets at dawn, offered free language lessons and organized outings for schoolchildren.
He spoke fluent Arabic and Morocco’s dialect, as well as Shilha, a Berber language widely spoken in the region, skills neighbors said helped him integrate into the community. He rode his bicycle to the local market, dressed simply in jeans and a button-down shirt, and opened a small library for children in the working-class Lassiri neighborhood.
Now the 79-year-old is behind bars and under formal investigation in France, accused of raping and sexually assaulting 89 boys over more than five decades across several countries, a case made public by prosecutors in France last week. They said Leveugle also acknowledged smothering his mother to death when she was in the terminal phase of cancer, and later killing his 92-year-old aunt.
Many of the sexual abuses occurred in North Africa, where Leveugle spent much of his life and built a reputation as a devoted teacher and a respectful man.
The crimes were discovered when a relative of Leveugle’s found his digital memoir on a USB drive and turned it over to authorities.
