French court rules that American detained after Facebook message ‘So I raped you’ can be extradited

LION, France – A French court ruled on Monday that the American man accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania university student in 2013 and subsequently sending her a Facebook message that said: “So I raped you” can be extradited to the U.S.

Ian Cleary, 31, of Saratoga, California, was detained in April in the northeastern French city of Metz after a three-year search. He has been in custody awaiting extradition proceedings since his arrest.

The Metz Court of Appeal said Cleary could be extradited. When asked whether or not he wished to be extradited in accordance with French law, Cleary refused, prosecutors said in a statement Monday. His refusal may delay the extradition process, but it will not stop it.

The decision is final. Cleary’s case is now in the hands of the French Ministry of Justice, which must prepare and present the French Prime Minister’s extradition order. Pending the Prime Minister’s signature, Cleary remains detained in France.

Justice Ministry officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cleary has been the subject of an international search since Pennsylvania authorities issued a 2021 felony warrant in the case weeks later an Associated Press story detailed the reluctance of local prosecutors to prosecute sex crimes on campus.

The arrest warrant accuses Cleary of stalking an 18-year-old Gettysburg College student at a party, sneaking into her dorm room and sexually assaulting her while she texted friends for help. He was a 20-year-old Gettysburg student at the time, but did not return to campus.

Gettysburg accuser Shannon Keeler took a rape exam the same day she was assaulted in 2013. She gathered witnesses and evidence and spent years urging authorities to bring charges. She turned to 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.”

The AP typically does not identify victims of sexual violence without their permission, which Keeler granted. The accuser’s attorney in Pennsylvania, contacted on Monday, declined to comment on the development.

According to the June 2021 warrant, police verified that the Facebook account used to send the messages belonged to Ian Cleary. Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett, who introduced him, declined to comment on the developments when he arrived Monday.

After leaving Gettysburg, Cleary earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Santa Clara University, near his family’s home in California, worked for Tesla and then moved to France for several years, according to his website, which describes his medieval fiction published by himself.

Keeler, originally from Moorestown, New Jersey, stayed on to graduate from Gettysburg and helped lead the women’s lacrosse team to a national title.

In 2023, two years after the warrant was filed, Keeler and his lawyers I wondered how he was avoiding capture in the age of digital tracking. The US Marshals Service thought he was probably abroad and on the move, even though he was the subject of an Interpol alert called a red alert.

In the U.S., very few campus rapes are prosecuted, both because victims fear going to the police and because prosecutors are hesitant to bring cases that can be difficult to win, the AP investigation found.

Keeler, when the warrant was issued, said she was grateful but knew it only happened “because I went public with my story, which no survivor should have to do to get justice.”

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Maryclaire Dale reported from Philadelphia.