Man who allegedly sent “So I raped you” message arrested after 3 years of search

Shannon Keeler was stunned when she read a Facebook post from a man she had accused of sexually assaulting her in 2013, when she was a freshman in college.

“I need to hear your voice,” Ian Cleary, now 31, of Saratoga, Calif., allegedly wrote to her in a 2019 message that she discovered in 2020, according to a case affidavit probable obtained by PEOPLE. “I need to know if I did it or not.”

In an even more chilling message, he reportedly wrote: “So I raped you. »

Keeler had spent years trying to convince authorities to arrest the upper-class man she accused of raping her when they were both students at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to no avail.

After receiving Cleary’s Facebook messages, she notified the police, but nothing happened. In 2021, she also spoke to the Associated Press for an article about the difficulty of prosecuting sex crimes on college campuses.

A few weeks later, Adams County Prosecutor Brian Sinnett filed a felony arrest warrant charging Cleary with sexual assault.

Now, after three years of research, a prosecutor in Metz, France, confirmed Tuesday that Cleary had been detained since April 24 after being taken into custody as part of a police check, the AP And The New York Times report.

He is being held in France pending extradition proceedings, the AP reports.

An attorney for Cleary did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Keeler’s attorney, Andrea Levy, declined to comment on the arrest.

In 2021, after the warrant for Cleary’s arrest was issued, Keeler said in a statement shared with PEOPLE through her attorney, Laura Dunn, that “while I am moved to tears by this outcome, that I ‘ve been waiting for over seven years. , I realize this moment has come because I have gone public with my story, something no survivor should have to do to get justice.

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Keeler’s ordeal began on Dec. 15, 2013, when she asked a friend to walk her back to her dorm after a party to celebrate finals, where a “kid” had “scared” her, the affidavit claims.

The child, later identified as Cleary, who was 20 at the time, allegedly followed her and her friend to the dorm, offering the friend $20 so he could be alone with Keeler, according to the affidavit.

The friend told Cleary to leave, according to the affidavit. Ten minutes later, Keeler heard a knock on the door and opened it thinking it was another friend, the affidavit states. It was Cleary who entered and began kissing Keeler before assaulting him, according to the affidavit.

Keeler sent text messages to friends saying, “Please help me” and “OMG please help me” before the alleged assault, according to the affidavit.

Keeler reported the alleged attack to police, underwent a rape test and found witnesses who saw Cleary that night, the affidavit states.

Authorities reopened the case after Keeler told them about the online posts and after the AP article about his case was published.

Police linked Cleary’s Facebook account to a matching cell phone number.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.