LYON, France — A French court ruled Monday that the American man accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania student in 2013 and later 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 held since his arrest pending extradition proceedings.
The Metz Court of Appeal said Cleary could be extradited. When asked whether he wanted to be extradited or not, in accordance with French law, Cleary refused, prosecutors said in a statement Monday. His refusal could delay the extradition process, but it will not stop it.
The ruling is final. Cleary’s case now falls under the responsibility of the French Ministry of Justice, which must prepare and submit the extradition order for the French prime minister. While he awaits the prime minister’s signature, Cleary remains in custody in France.
Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cleary has been the subject of an international search since Pennsylvania authorities issued an arrest warrant in the case in 2021, weeks after an Associated Press story detailed the reluctance of local prosecutors to prosecute campus sex crimes.
The arrest warrant accuses Cleary of stalking an 18-year-old Gettysburg College student at a party, sneaks into her dorm room and abuses her while she texts her friends for help. He was a 20-year-old Gettysburg student at the time, but never returned to campus.
Gettysburg accuser Shannon Keeler filed a rape report the same day she was assaulted in 2013. She gathered witnesses and evidence and spent years urging authorities to file charges. She went to authorities again in 2021 after discovering the Facebook messages that appeared to come from Cleary’s account.
“So I raped you,” the sender had written in a series of messages.
“I will never do this to anyone again.”
“I need to hear your voice.”
“I will pray for you.”
The AP generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse without their consent, which Keeler has given. A lawyer for the Pennsylvania prosecutor, reached 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 filed the warrant, declined to comment on the developments when reached Monday.
After leaving Gettysburg, Cleary earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Santa Clara University, near his childhood home in California. He worked for Tesla and then moved to France for several years, according to his website, which details his self-published medieval fiction.
Keeler, originally from Moorestown, New Jersey, stayed there to graduate from Gettysburg and help lead the women’s lacrosse team to a national title.
In 2023, two years after the warrant was filed, Keeler and her attorneys wondered how he could avoid capture in the age of digital tracking. The U.S. Marshals Service believed he was likely overseas and in transit, even though he was the subject of an Interpol alert, called a red notice.
The AP investigation found that few campus rape cases are prosecuted in the U.S., partly because victims are afraid to go to the police and partly because prosecutors are reluctant to pursue cases that are hard to win.
Keeler said she was grateful when the order was issued, but she 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.