Campus sexual assault suspect accused of texting victim ‘I raped you’ extradited to US
Prosecutors at a French appeals court said the American was accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that read: “So I raped you,” was extradited to the United States on Thursday.
The prosecutor’s office at the appeals court in Metz, in northeastern France, said Ian Cleary was handed over to US authorities at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport.
Cleary, 31, of Saratoga, Calif., was arrested in April in Metz after a three-year search. Since his arrest, he has been in custody awaiting extradition proceedings. The Court of Appeal in Metz ruled in July that he can be extradited.
Cleary has been the subject of an international manhunt since authorities in Pennsylvania issued a 2021 felony warrant in the case weeks after an Associated Press story detailed local prosecutors’ reluctance to investigate campus sex crimes.
The arrest warrant accuses Cleary of stalking an 18-year-old Gettysburg College student at a party in 2013, sneaking into her dorm room and sexually assaulting her while she texted friends for help. He was a 20-year-old student at Gettysburg at the time, but he did not return to campus.
/ AP
Plaintiff, Shannon Keelershe passed the rape test on the same day. She collected witnesses and evidence and for years persuaded officials to press charges. She contacted authorities again in 2021 after discovering Facebook messages that appeared to come from Cleary’s account.
“So I raped you,” the sender wrote in a series of messages.
“I will never do that to anyone again.”
“I need to hear your voice.”
– I will pray for you.
According to the June 2021 warrant, police confirmed that the Facebook account used to send the messages belonged to Cleary.
The AP typically does not identify sexual assault victims without their permission, which Keeler granted.
Across the US, very few rape on campus are prosecuted, both because victims are afraid to go to the police and because prosecutors are reluctant to bring hard-to-win cases, an AP investigation showed.
