LYON, France. A French court ruled Monday that the American man accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and then sending her a Facebook message saying, “So I raped you,” can be extradited to the United States.
Ian Cleary, 31, of Saratoga, California, was arrested in April in the northeastern French city of Metz after a three-year search. He has been detained pending extradition proceedings since his arrest.
The Metz Court of Appeal affirmed that Cleary can be extradited. When asked whether or not he wanted to be extradited under French law, Cleary refused, prosecutors said in a statement Monday. His refusal may delay the extradition process, but he will not stop it.
The ruling is final. Cleary’s case is now the responsibility of the French Ministry of Justice, which must prepare and present the French prime minister’s extradition order. While awaiting the prime minister’s signature, Cleary remains detained in France.
Justice Ministry officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cleary had been the subject of an international search since Pennsylvania authorities issued a 2021 felony arrest warrant in the case weeks later. an Associated Press story detailed the reluctance of local prosecutors to pursue sexual crimes on campus.
the arrest warrant accuses Cleary of stalking an 18-year-old Gettysburg College student at a party, sneaked into her dorm room and sexually assaulted her while she was texting her friends for help. At the time she was a 20-year-old Gettysburg student, but she did not return to campus.
Gettysburg accuser Shannon Keeler underwent a rape exam the same day she was assaulted in 2013. She gathered witnesses and evidence and spent years urging officials to press 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 had written in a series of messages.
“I’ll never do it to anyone again.”
“I need to hear your voice.”
“I will pray for you.”
The AP does not typically identify sexual assault victims without their permission, which Keeler has granted. The accuser’s attorney in Pennsylvania, contacted on Monday, declined to comment on the development.
According to the June 2021 order, 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 self-published medieval fiction.
Keeler, originally from Moorestown, New Jersey, stayed to graduate from Gettysburg and help lead the women’s lacrosse team to a national title.
By 2023, two years after the order was filed, Keeler and his attorneys He wondered how he was avoiding capture in the era of digital tracking. The U.S. Marshals Service thought he was probably overseas and on the move, even though he was the subject of an Interpol alert called a red notice.
Across the United States, very few campus rapes are prosecuted, both because victims are afraid to go to the police and because prosecutors are hesitant to bring cases that can be difficult to win, the AP investigation found.
Keeler, when the order 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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Dale reported from Philadelphia.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
