A person accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania school pupil in 2013 after which, years later, sending her a message that mentioned “So I raped you” has been arrested in France, the authorities mentioned.
The person, Ian Thomas Cleary of Saratoga, Calif., had been sought since 2021, when a warrant for his arrest was issued charging him with sexual assault. Mr. Cleary, 31, was detained final month in Metz, France, in response to the prosecutor’s workplace on the Metz Appeals Court docket.
The prosecutor’s workplace mentioned that Mr. Cleary had been arrested in reference to a case involving the possession of stolen items. It didn’t present additional particulars in regards to the circumstances of the arrest however mentioned that Mr. Cleary had instructed the French police that he had been in France for the previous two to 3 years.
Mr. Cleary remains to be in detention, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned. It was not instantly clear how rapidly Mr. Cleary could be extradited to america, however the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned he could possibly be detained for as much as 60 days, which is the period of time American judicial authorities need to file an official extradition request.
The arrest warrant was issued after Shannon Keeler found a sequence of Fb messages from Mr. Cleary and confirmed them to the authorities in Adams County, Pa., the place she was a pupil at Gettysburg School on the time of the reported assault. A lawyer for Ms. Keeler, Andrea M. Levy, mentioned she was not commenting on the investigation on Tuesday.
Ms. Keeler reported a sexual assault to the Gettysburg Police Division on Dec. 15, 2013, after she and a few associates attended a celebration on the Gettysburg School campus to rejoice the tip of finals, in response to a possible trigger affidavit.
She instructed the authorities that Mr. Cleary, additionally a pupil on the school on the time, had adopted her and a good friend from the social gathering to her dorm room. The good friend who had accompanied her mentioned that Mr. Cleary had provided $20 to depart him alone with Ms. Keeler, the affidavit mentioned.
The good friend instructed Mr. Cleary “to go away,” and he did, in response to the affidavit.
However minutes after the good friend left, Ms. Keeler instructed the authorities, there was a knock on her door, and he or she opened it with out peering via the peephole, in response to the affidavit.
The authorities mentioned that Mr. Cleary entered the condominium, kissed Ms. Keeler and had intercourse along with her with out consent.
After he apologized and left the unit, Ms. Keeler messaged her good friend, “OMG please Assist me,” the affidavit mentioned.
In 2021, Ms. Keeler instructed The Related Press that the authorities had instructed her it was tough to prosecute assault circumstances wherein the sufferer had been ingesting. She additionally mentioned she discovered in 2020 that her rape package from the investigation had been destroyed after the case was initially closed.
However a break within the case got here in Could 2020, when Ms. Keeler discovered a sequence of Fb messages that Mr. Cleary had despatched to her in December 2019, in response to the affidavit.
One mentioned, “So I raped you.” One other mentioned, “I’ll by no means do it to anybody ever once more.”
The police obtained a search warrant for the Fb account and matched it to Mr. Cleary via a cellphone quantity, in response to the affidavit. The warrant for Mr. Cleary’s arrest was issued in June 2021.
By final 12 months, the U.S. Marshals Service had come to imagine that he may need gone abroad, and Mr. Clearly was the topic of an Interpol alert referred to as a purple discover, in response to The A.P.
