An LSU French Grad Student Was Charged With Rape, Suspended For Assault. Here's How He Got Away. - News

21/02/2022 11:40 An LSU French grad student was charged with rape, suspended for assault.
for assault. Here's how he got away. | News | theadvocate.com
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_1798cfb2-2551-11ec-aaef-c787413e5df5.html
An LSU French grad student was

charged with rape, suspended for
assault. Here's how he got away.
As Lafayette woman pursued criminal rape case against Edouard d’Espalungue, she never
knew women in Baton Rouge were also lodging complaints against him
BY ANDREA GALLO | STAFF WRITER
OCT 5, 2021 - 3:00 PM
Anne, a 24 year old from Lafayette, who asked to be identified by her middle name to
protect her privacy, reported in 2018 that former LSU graduate student Edouard
d'Espalungue raped her on a religious retreat. He was arrested in 2018 and indicted on
a third degree rape charge this year, but he has fled back to his home country of
France. Anne was photographed October 5 at Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic Church in
Lafayette, which hosted the 2018 retreat near Alexandria. She still attends Mass there.
(Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
CHRIS GRANGER
Andrea Gallo
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_1798cfb2-2551-11ec-aaef-c787413e5df5.html?347&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twittertheadvo… 1/25
21/02/2022 11:40 An LSU French grad student was charged with rape, suspended for assault. Here's how he got away. | News | theadvocate.com
She spent two and a half years wondering if

she made the right decision after the night
that had come to eclipse the happier parts of
her life.
Had she not come forward, she would not

have had to endure questioning by a detective
who wondered how she could possibly laugh
as she told them she was raped. She would not
have had photos of herself enjoying a vacation
used against her in a court hearing. She would
not have been on edge at college, unable to
focus each time a new chapter of the criminal
case opened.
“When I left school, I felt like he won,” said

Anne, 24, of Lafayette, who asked to be
identified in this story by her middle name to
protect her privacy. “When I ditch my spiritual
life, avoid relationships, hesitate to commit to
jobs … I feel like he wins.”
By March of this year, it seemed as though her

rape case against Edouard d'Espalungue
d'Arros, 31, was in free fall. Anne had filed a
police report on the night in September 2018
that she said d'Espalungue raped her, while
they were on a religious retreat in Rapides
Parish.
She was a senior at UL Lafayette at the time,

Edouard d’Espalungue d’Arros, an LSU graduate student from France, was arrested in 2018
in Rapides Parish on a count of second degree rape. A Rapides parish grand jury indicted
him on third degree rape in February 2021. He fled to France after being suspended in a
separate, LSU sexual assault case.
Photo provided from Rapides Parish Sheriff's Department
hoping to become a mental health counselor.

He was a graduate student at LSU, a French
national studying French literature. Police
arrested him on a count of sexual battery after
her initial report, rebooking him a few days
later on a second-degree rape count.
He posted bail of $75,000 and was released

from jail on Oct. 5, 2018.
But over the next two-plus years, though he

stood accused of a serious crime,
d'Espalungue seemed to grow in power and
influence at LSU and throughout Baton Rouge.
And each institution that had an opportunity
to stop his predatory behavior — police,
prosecutors, judges and LSU officials —

dropped the ball, sometimes on multiple
occasions.
He was appointed to East Baton Rouge Mayor-

President Sharon Weston Broome’s
International Relations Committee. He was
reelected as a senator in LSU’s student
government. And he became vice president for
programs at the LSU International Cultural
Center.
Anne, a 24 year old from Lafayette, who asked to be identified by her

middle name to protect her privacy, reported in 2018 that former LSU
graduate student Edouard d'Espalungue raped her on a religious
retreat. He was arrested in 2018 and indicted on a third degree rape
charge this year, but he has fled back to his home country of France.
Anne was photographed October 5 at Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic
Church in Lafayette, which hosted the 2018 retreat near Alexandria. She
still attends Mass there. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune |
The New Orleans Advocate)
CHRIS GRANGER
He launched a popular American Journal of

French Studies, soliciting contest entries from
high school French students across the state.
He held French cinema nights at LSU. His
lawyer mentioned all of these achievements

while asking a Rapides Parish judge to allow
d’Espalungue to travel out of state on
weekends while his rape case was pending.
Anne, meanwhile, was struggling. She had

graduated with a bachelor’s degree, but she
pulled out of a master’s program. She opted to
teach dance classes and babysit instead.
She avoided Mass because the smell of

incense brought her back to being pinned on
the concrete. She struggled to trust authority
figures and institutions. She was disgusted
when she saw photos of d'Espalungue
interacting with high school girls at her
Lafayette alma mater to promote the Journal
of French Studies.
Rather than simply charge d’Espalungue, the

Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office
wanted Anne to testify about the rape before a
grand jury. But the grand jury meeting was
rescheduled three times.
RELATED
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LSU and police have not
signed agreement over sexual
assault
And then d’Espalungue disappeared.

Rapides Parish Judge Lowell “Chris” Hazel

granted a petition for d'Espalungue to go
home to France for Christmas 2020, with no
objection from the District Attorney’s Office.
He has never come back.
On Feb. 23 this year, Anne finally went before

the grand jury, explaining in excruciating
detail how he held her down and forced
himself on her, how she remembered the look
of the trees above her that night. The panel
charged d'Espalungue with third-degree rape.
But with the assailant in France, it wasn’t clear
what would happen next.
By then, LSU was deeply embroiled in a

scandal over how campus officials had
handled complaints of sexual misconduct,
many involving prominent sports figures, in
recent years. Anne had hired Mimi Methvin, a
retired federal magistrate judge, amid
concerns about how the DA was handling her
case. And Methvin got an email from an LSU
student that caused Anne to see her case in an
infuriating new way.
RELATED
Why dethroning top officials
has not changed culture at
LSU, where 'secrecy continues'
The student had some startling information: It

appeared that d’Espalungue was a serial
abuser.
“I am actually the student that was involved in

Edouard’s suspension from LSU as a result of a
Student Advocacy and Accountability case I
pursued against him for an off-campus sexual
assault,” the student wrote. “Also, if it is
allowed, and your client would find it
beneficial to talk to the other victims of this
man, I have CC’ed the two other women with
their consent that have been victims of
Edouard in different capacities. We’re all
current students at LSU.”
After reporting rape on retreat, early

response bungled
When Anne met d'Espalungue in 2018, she was

charmed by his French accent. And she
wanted to make sure that, as an LSU student,
he did not feel left out at a retreat being
hosted by UL Lafayette’s Our Lady of Wisdom
Catholic Student Center.
The group was at a retreat center 20 minutes

south of Alexandria, where they attended talks
on Catholicism and sat around a bonfire the
second night. As Anne got up to leave, she said
d'Espalungue joined her, initially steering her
toward the woods until she said no. He led her
to a dock instead, where they sat on a bench
and he kissed her.

CHRIS GRANGER
It was OK at first, though she was frustrated

that he kissed her while she was in mid-
sentence. But then he wouldn’t stop. As she
writhed away, she said, he grabbed her
ponytail, pinned her head down and tried to
reach into her pants.
“I learned very quickly that he was strong,” she

said.
She was eventually able to roll out from under

him, and she said she had to get back to the
retreat center. But as she tried to walk back,
she said he pulled her down to the concrete.
Under his weight, she said she shook, cried
and begged him to stop.
“He pulled down my pants anyway, and he did

it,” she said. She stayed on the concrete as he
got up.
RELATED
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problems extend well beyond
LSU
She vowed d'Espalungue would pay a price for

raping her.
At around 1:30 a.m., the Rev. Bryce Sibley —

who was running the retreat — got a call
telling him to come to the main building.
Anne, whom he had known for years, had

made her way back, and she was distraught.
“I had never seen anything like this,” Sibley

said. “She was on the floor, almost in a fetal
position, wailing and howling.”
Sibley called the police. When Rapides Parish

sheriff’s deputies showed up, Anne was
giggling with friends. That’s a common
response to any type of trauma, especially
sexual assault, said Morgan Lamandre, the
legal director of the state’s Sexual Trauma
Awareness and Response center.
But Anne said her laughter seemed to make

Deputy Clayton Webb take her less seriously.
She wonders if he would have treated her
differently had her response been different.
“We see this often where law enforcement

says, ‘A survivor's not acting like a victim,’”
Lamandre said. “But the problem with that
misunderstanding is it’s not backed up by
what the science tells us happens to a victim
when they face a traumatic event. There’s no
normal reaction to an abnormal event.”
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victims testify at Capitol
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_1798cfb2-2551-11ec-aaef-c787413e5df5.html?347&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twittertheadv… 10/25
Webb advised Anne against moving forward

with a criminal case, an interaction recorded
on his body camera. He told her it would take
three to four years. He also warned her
against getting a rape exam, saying nurses
would “comb through every hair on your
body,” and that with d'Espalungue
acknowledging sex but claiming it was
consensual, the rape kit would be pointless.
“He really convinced her not to do a rape kit,”

said Sibley, who was there. “It was handled
poorly, particularly in not showing care for the
victim and approaching this in a
compassionate and tender way.”
Anne ignored Webb’s advice and said she

wanted to press charges, and Webb arrested
d'Espalungue on a count of sexual battery.
Then a different detective, Cainan Baker, took
over Anne’s case. He secured warrants for
d'Espalungue’s DNA, backpack and journal,
which resulted in d'Espalungue being
rebooked on a more serious charge. Anne said
Baker was one of few people who seemed
willing to push her case forward.
Webb has since died. Tommy Carnline, chief of

staff for the Sheriff’s Office, said he could not
comment on the office's handling of the case
because the investigation is ongoing, but said
officials are hoping for “a conviction for the
charges he was arrested for.”
RELATED
LSU's sexual misconduct
investigation finds 'failure of
leadership,' dozens of
problems
News of d'Espalungue’s arrest reached Baton

Rouge, and he was yanked from teaching
freshmen-level French classes. But he stayed
in touch with students he had previously
taught. He also started a journal affiliated with
and funded by LSU, where he worked with
undergrads and reached out to high school
students for essay competitions. Sexual
misconduct complaints about him began to
roll in.
Six women at LSU allege sexual

misconduct by d’Espalungue,
including two rapes
After d’Espalungue’s arrest in Anne’s case, two
more LSU undergraduates say he raped them
— one in 2019 and another in 2020. The claims
are outlined in a new lawsuit, in which
Methvin represents six women with Title IX

claims against LSU. The suit describes
d’Espalungue as a “charming, handsome, and
successful serial sexual predator,” though he
has not been criminally charged in any case
aside from Anne’s.
D'Espalungue did not return messages for this

story sent through channels listed for him in
court filings, through the American Journal of
French Studies and on social media. A French
attorney who said he represented
d'Espalungue in recent court filings also did
not return phone messages and emails.
An LSU spokesman said Tuesday that

university officials had just become aware of
the lawsuit and were still reviewing it, but
noted they generally do not comment on
pending litigation.
RELATED
'A huge emotional toll':
Victims detail LSU's weak
punishments for sexual
misconduct
None of the plaintiffs alleging misconduct

from d’Espalungue are named, and instead are
described as Jane Does 1 through 6. Each of
the six described unsettling — if not always
illegal — interactions with d’Espalungue in the

lawsuit, filed late Monday in federal court in
Baton Rouge. The same group has filed a
similar lawsuit in state court.
An LSU French Studies professor texted LSU

Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Troy
Blanchard over the course of a week in late
October 2018 to alert him that four students
had complained about sexual harassment by
d’Espalungue. While those complainants did
not allege rape, the students described
d’Espalungue as “very aggressive.” The
professor, Jane Doe 6, said Adelaide Russo,
chair of the French department, had been
dismissive of the complaints.
Jane Doe 6 also met with a Title IX

representative, who later wrote that “while we
felt that the situation did not rise to the level
of requiring an investigation, efforts should be
made to prevent the situation from
escalating,” according to the lawsuit.
Jason Hicks, an associate dean under

Blanchard, also met with d’Espalungue and
Russo, telling them that d’Espalungue should
not be in the classroom, the lawsuit says. They
responded that he was “not leading anything”
on campus, but that he was helping Russo
with research projects, the lawsuit says. But

the same day, d’Espalungue emailed
undergraduates about a film screening.
RELATED
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him to stop texting, being
alone with female student
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Over the next several months, two graduate

students and Jane Doe 6 repeated their
complaints to higher-ups. Jane Doe 6 emailed
LSU’s Title IX office on Dec. 15, 2018, reporting
that Russo had called a meeting about
d’Espalungue with faculty and staff,
“informing all that he is innocent before
asking if we have concerns or issues feeling
comfortable.”
Russo also emailed faculty and graduate

students in 2020 telling them that they should
bring any Title IX complaints to her, and that
she would decide whether to file them with
LSU’s Title IX office — a violation of LSU
policy, according to the lawsuit.
Little happened in response to the complaints

about Russo. She referred comments for this
story to LSU’s spokesperson. Other LSU
employees did not respond to messages for

this story.
D’Espalungue, meanwhile, allegedly continued

to prey on victims and moved beyond
harassment. One of the undergraduates who
he used to teach, Jane Doe 2, says in the
lawsuit that he raped her on Jan. 31, 2019. She
did not report the rape to law enforcement or
LSU because d’Espalungue “then persuaded
her to have a continuing relationship for
several months,” according to the lawsuit.
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pressure from Legislative
Women's Caucus
On Feb. 28, 2019, LSU Title IX employees

responded to a complaint that d’Espalungue
“was still part of the public face of French
studies even though he was not supposed to
be serving in areas where he may have contact
with other students.” Deputy Title IX
coordinator for employees Lindsey Madatic
wrote in an email that day that she checked
with Hicks and Blanchard, and confirmed that
d’Espalungue “was (and is still) not performing
any sort of service where he may have contact
with other students.” Madatic also said Hicks

and Blanchard had appropriately addressed
student concerns about d’Espalungue in 2018.
But according to the lawsuit, just two months

later, another undergraduate who worked at
the journal alleged that d’Espalungue had
forcibly kissed her and groped her. She did not
report it to Title IX until the next year, when
she sent more than 50 pages of text messages
to LSU’s Title IX office. In one, d’Espalungue
told her, “you have beautiful boobs.” In
another, he explained he was trying to get
nude photos of women from across the state.
“Trying to do the entire map of Louisiana,” the

message said, according to the lawsuit. “You
know like board game. A flag on every district.”
Around the same time he allegedly groped the

undergraduate from the journal, d’Espalungue
presided over an awards ceremony for the
journal involving high schoolers at LSU’s
French House.
“During the ceremony, d’Espalungue

expressed to at least one witness his sexual
and romantic interest in one of the high
school essay contestants,” the lawsuit states.
“Within a few weeks d’Espalungue had

seduced her into a sexual relationship which
lasted on and off for at least several months.”
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On Sept. 6, 2020, d’Espalungue went on a

picnic with a 20-year-old undergraduate
whom he had recently helped to fix a flat bike
tire. She asked to go home after he kept
touching her leg.
“Instead of driving to her apartment, however,

he drove to his own apartment, where he
raped her,” the lawsuit says.
It was that student — Jane Doe 1 — whose

complaints finally prompted LSU to take
action. She received a rape kit and reported
the findings to LSU’s Title IX office. She also
endured an hourslong Student Advocacy and
Accountability appeal hearing during which
she “had to endure questioning and cross-
examination by her attacker, and her advisor
was not allowed to speak,” the lawsuit said.
An LSU panel found d’Espalungue responsible

for sexual misconduct and endangerment and
suspended him from campus for a year.
Though institutions are mandated to report
sexual assault involving minors to law
enforcement, it’s generally up to adult
survivors themselves whether they want to
report their cases to police, Lamandre said. It
does not appear that Jane Doe 1 took her case
to law enforcement.
RELATED
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LSU’s Title IX office has weathered a storm of

criticism over the past year over allegations
that the university has failed to properly
investigate claims of sexual assault and other
misconduct on campus. The lawsuit blames
those systemic failures for LSU’s inability to
stop d’Espalungue.
LSU’s Title IX office fielded five other

complaints about d’Espalungue in November
2020 from the various women involved in the
lawsuit “about harassment by d’Espalungue
and endangerment of other female LSU
students and high school students.” They
came forward with new evidence — including

50 pages of text messages — while LSU was
taking up the Jane Doe 1 case. But those
complaints were closed without investigation,
according to the lawsuit.
Fleeing the country

During this time, Anne’s case continued to
languish. She and Methvin, her lawyer, had no
idea that d’Espalungue had been suspended
from LSU, let alone racked up a long list of
sexual misconduct complaints there.
In asking the court to allow d’Espalungue to

travel to France for the holidays last year,
d’Espalungue’s lawyer, Mike Small, mentioned
his client’s high GPA, thesis award and four
previous out-of-state visits.

CHRIS GRANGER
Prosecutors from Rapides Parish District

Attorney Phillip Terrell’s office raised no
objection. Brian Cespiva, the assistant district
attorney over the case, did not respond to
requests for comment.
Small, a well-known Alexandria attorney, did

not mention the case against d’Espalungue at
LSU. In an interview, Small said he was
unaware of it.
“I wouldn’t have motioned for him to travel

had I the slightest doubt that he wouldn’t
return,” Small said. “I wouldn’t have put myself
in that position, the judge in that position, the
DA in that position. At the time I filed the
motion, I felt very comfortable that he would
return.”
Others saw the writing on the wall

immediately.
“When I found out that they allowed him to go

to France for Christmas, when I heard that, I
said, ‘He is not coming back,’” Sibley said.
“Why did that happen? Is it just a lack of

common sense? Is it something else involved?
It was very strange.”
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By February, it seemed obvious that

d’Espalungue was staying put. In a Feb. 11
hearing, Small read from an affidavit from a
French attorney, Pierre Hourcade, saying he
witnessed d’Espalungue try to return to the
U.S.
Hourcade claimed that “Mr. D’Espalungue was

informed by the Marshal that he could no
longer board the return flight from France
because his visa had been revoked,” the court
records say. Hourcade did not return
messages and emails for this story.
Methvin believes d’Espalungue only pretended

to try to return to the U.S. using his student
visa — which had been revoked because of his
sexual misconduct at LSU — and that he could
have returned to the country on a tourist visa
if he wanted to. France is one of many
countries that does not extradite its citizens
to the U.S. when they’re accused of crimes on

American soil. Famed film director Roman
Polanski, notably, remains free more than 40
years after he fled to France in 1978 following
his conviction in a child rape case in the U.S.
Anne and her family filed a federal lawsuit

against d’Espalungue in February, and she
testified against him that month before the
grand jury in Alexandria, where he was
indicted on a charge of third-degree rape.
Small dropped him as a client, and Hazel — the
judge — revoked d’Espalungue’s bond and
issued an arrest warrant March 25.
RELATED
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investigation for 'safety
practices' after sexual assault
complaints
But for Anne and her allies, it was too little,

too late. She was relieved she was not the only
one who had come forward, but she was also
furious. Had her case been taken seriously
from the start, she reasons, the pain of the
others could have been prevented. When she
met another survivor of a rape by
d’Espalungue, she was reminded of herself.
Hearing the stories from the other women did

not heal her pain. She’s uncertain if anything
will. She said no amount of justice, “even
though there will probably be none,” will give
her closure, either.
But the others’ stories — and the fear that

d’Espalungue’s behavior will continue,
regardless of what country he’s in — have
pushed her to press on.
In a recent self-reflection, she wrote that the

heaviest pressure she carries “is the weight of
all the other victims I’m towing behind me.”
But she keeps moving forward.
“I could drop it all, but what would that mean

for those who have finally come forward?”
Anne wrote. “In my heart, I’m committed to
them. I don’t want to ruin their chance for
justice. … I can’t hold the guilt of giving up, of
allowing him to get away with it, for a lifetime
without fighting.”
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING IS MORE ESSENTIAL THAN EVER,

WHICH IS WHY WE’VE ESTABLISHED THE LOUISIANA
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM FUND, A NON-PROFIT
SUPPORTED BY OUR READERS.
TO LEARN MORE, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

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21/02/2022 11:40 An LSU French grad student was charged with rape, suspended for assault.

for assault. Here's how he got away. | News | theadvocate.com

An LSU French grad student was

She spent two and a half years wondering if

Had she not come forward, she would not

“When I left school, I felt like he won,” said

By March of this year, it seemed as though her

She was a senior at UL Lafayette at the time,

hoping to become a mental health counselor.

He posted bail of $75,000 and was released

But over the next two-plus years, though he

prosecutors, judges and LSU officials —

He was appointed to East Baton Rouge Mayor-

Anne, a 24 year old from Lafayette, who asked to be identified by her

He launched a popular American Journal of

lawyer mentioned all of these achievements

Anne, meanwhile, was struggling. She had

She avoided Mass because the smell of

Rather than simply charge d’Espalungue, the

And then d’Espalungue disappeared.

Rapides Parish Judge Lowell “Chris” Hazel

He has never come back.

On Feb. 23 this year, Anne finally went before

By then, LSU was deeply embroiled in a

The student had some startling information: It

“I am actually the student that was involved in

After reporting rape on retreat, early

When Anne met d'Espalungue in 2018, she was

The group was at a retreat center 20 minutes

Anne, a 24 year old from Lafayette, who asked to be identified by her

It was OK at first, though she was frustrated

“I learned very quickly that he was strong,” she

She was eventually able to roll out from under

“He pulled down my pants anyway, and he did

She vowed d'Espalungue would pay a price for

At around 1:30 a.m., the Rev. Bryce Sibley —

Anne, whom he had known for years, had

“I had never seen anything like this,” Sibley

Sibley called the police. When Rapides Parish

But Anne said her laughter seemed to make

“We see this often where law enforcement

Webb advised Anne against moving forward

“He really convinced her not to do a rape kit,”

Anne ignored Webb’s advice and said she

Webb has since died. Tommy Carnline, chief of

News of d'Espalungue’s arrest reached Baton

Six women at LSU allege sexual

Methvin represents six women with Title IX

D'Espalungue did not return messages for this

An LSU spokesman said Tuesday that

None of the plaintiffs alleging misconduct

illegal — interactions with d’Espalungue in the

An LSU French Studies professor texted LSU

Jane Doe 6 also met with a Title IX

Jason Hicks, an associate dean under

with research projects, the lawsuit says. But

Over the next several months, two graduate

Russo also emailed faculty and graduate

Little happened in response to the complaints

employees did not respond to messages for

D’Espalungue, meanwhile, allegedly continued

On Feb. 28, 2019, LSU Title IX employees