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a man who sent Facebook Messages to a woman that said, “So I raped you,” he later pleaded guilty to sexual assault pennsylvania The college campus awaits sentencing on Monday.
Ian Cleary, 32, faces a possible four to eight years in prison under a joint resolution for the attack on Shannon Keeler at Gettysburg College in 2013. The judge is free to accept or reject the terms.
According to Keeler, Cleary broke into her first-year dorm on the eve of winter break, when few people were left on campus, then broke into her room and assaulted her.
Cleary, who left Gettysburg after the attack, eventually completed college silicon ValleyCalifornia, where he grew up. He then obtained a master’s degree and worked for Tesla before moving abroad.
Years later, she sent Keeler a Facebook message, and he resumed his efforts with police and prosecutors to file charges. In 2021 he shared his experience in a associated Press Story on the reluctance of authorities to prosecute sex crimes on campus.
Cleary was convicted a few weeks later and, after a three-year manhunt, was extradited from Metz. FranceWhere he was detained in April 2024 on minor, unrelated charges.
Cleary pleaded no contest in July when he pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault.
“I’ve been thinking about this moment for 12 years,” Keeler said after seeing Cleary in court that day. He called it a surreal moment.
“There have been a lot of ups and downs to get to this point. It took a lot of people doing the right things to get us here,” said Keeler, now 30.
In an interview with the AP, Keeler described his decade-long effort to persuade authorities to pursue charges that began hours after the attack.
Authorities in the US and Europe tried to track Cleary after the indictment, but seemed unable to locate him online or in any other way.
In court in July, defense attorney John Abom said Cleary had been homeless at times and was unaware of the charges. Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett said he doubted, but could prove, that Cleary was on the run.
This charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. Cleary’s family members have declined to comment on the case and have not attended his court hearing.
The AP generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Keeler has done.