Man Who Sent ‘I Raped You’ Messages Is Extradited From France to U.S.

[ad_1] An American man who was arrested in France on accusations of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania faculty scholar in 2013 has been extradited to the US to face costs, the French authorities stated.

The person, Ian Thomas Cleary of Saratoga, Calif., was placed on a flight on Thursday morning from Charles de Gaulle Airport outdoors Paris, stated Christophe Mira, senior prosecutor on the Metz Appeals Court docket in France.

Mr. Cleary, 31, was arrested final yr in France after a three-year search that was prompted partly by Fb messages he despatched to the lady he's accused of assaulting years earlier than, in 2013. The scholar, Shannon Keeler, reported to the authorities in Adams County, Pa., the place she was attending Gettysburg Faculty, that Mr. Cleary — additionally a scholar on the faculty — had attacked her on the evening of Dec. 15.

However Mr. Cleary was not charged not till 2021, after Ms. Keeler discovered a collection of messages that he had despatched her on Fb in 2019, together with one which learn: “So I raped you.”

Calls and messages to Héloise Rouchel, a public defender for Mr. Cleary in Metz, weren't instantly returned. It was unclear if anybody else was representing Mr. Cleary.

Ms. Keeler informed the authorities that Mr. Cleary had adopted her and a good friend residence after a celebration on campus, in accordance with a possible trigger affidavit. The good friend informed Mr. Cleary to “go away” after he provided $20 to be left alone with Ms. Keeler, the affidavit stated.

However quickly after she arrived residence and the good friend left, Ms. Keeler heard a knock and opened the door with out trying via the peephole, the affidavit stated. It was Mr. Cleary, and authorities stated that he entered the condo, kissed Ms. Keeler and had intercourse along with her with out her consent. He left after apologizing, Ms. Keeler informed the authorities, and Ms. Keeler messaged a good friend for assist.

“It has bothered me over time that I used to be by no means capable of do something,” Ms. Keeler stated in an interview with The Related Press in 2021. The authorities had informed her that it was troublesome to prosecute assault instances by which the sufferer had ingesting, she stated. After the case was first closed, she found {that a} rape package she submitted had been destroyed.

Ms. Keeler’s lawyer couldn't be instantly reached for touch upon Thursday.

However after eight years, Mr. Cleary was charged after the invention of the Fb messages. She handed them on to authorities in Adams County, who issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Cleary in June 2021. The U.S. Marshals got here to imagine that Mr. Cleary was overseas, the A.P. reported, and he was the topic of an Interpol crimson discover in search of his arrest.

He was arrested final April within the French metropolis of Metz in reference to a case involving the possession of stolen items, the prosecutor’s workplace on the Metz Appeals Court docket stated. On Thursday, Mr. Mira, the senior prosecutor, stated that he had not been prosecuted for the stolen items. He added that Mr. Mira had informed the French authorities that he had arrived in France two or three years beforehand.

Brian Sinnett, the Adams County district lawyer, didn't instantly reply to an e mail requesting remark. The U.S. Division of Justice, which oversees the U.S. Marshals Service, additionally didn't instantly reply to a request for remark.