According to the prosecutor of La Rochelle, who relinquished the investigation for the benefit of the public prosecutor of Lorient, 250 potential victims of the retired surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec were identified for non-prescribed facts. 184 of them filed a complaint.

"250 potential victims of non-prescribed facts of pedophilia were identified during the investigation" aimed at the retired surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec, announced Monday the prosecutor of La Rochelle, Laurent Zuchowicz, who indicated to divest the component Breton file to benefit the floor of Lorient.

This former doctor, aged 68, has practiced in Vannes, Lorient (Morbihan), Loches (Indre-et-Loire) and Jonzac (Charente-Maritime) from 1989 to 2017. He has been incarcerated since May 2017 as part of a first part of this file for which he must appear from March 13 to 17 before the Assize Court of Charente-Maritime.

These first facts, which launched this case of an unprecedented scale in France, concern "rapes on minors under 15 years of age by authoritative person, sexual assault and sexual exhibition" on four victims and date back to 1989-2017 during which the surgeon worked in Brittany, Touraine, and Charente-Maritime, at the Jonzac hospital. Since the closure of this file in March, it was covered by a second procedure, which has accelerated in recent months, with the discovery of secret books of the surgeon.

181 victims "were minor at the time of the facts"

In total, among the 250 identified victims, "209 were auditioned, many of them reporting specific memories," said the statement of the prosecutor adding that "184 have wished to file a complaint". Among these complainants, 181 victims "were minor at the time of the facts", according to the magistrate. According to the prosecutor's office in La Rochelle, out of 159 criminal and / or delictual offenses suspected between April 1991 and January 2014, 100 occurred in Morbihan and 23 in Finistère. "Given the outcome of these investigations, the prosecutor's office of La Rochelle has relinquished in favor of the prosecution of Lorient", which will continue the investigation, concluded Laurent Zuchowicz.

The names of these young boys and girls were in the intimate notebooks kept by the ex-surgeon in which he described sexual scenes, "fantasies" according to his defense. They were found during a search of his home following his indictment and incarceration for raping the daughter of his neighbors in Jonzac, where he worked from 2014 to 2017, and a member of his family as well as sexual assault on young patients. These are the facts for which he is sent to the assizes of the Charente-Maritime in Saintes. Child pornography, dolls hidden in the floor and wigs were also found.