PHILADELPHIA — An individual from the United States, accused of sexually assaulting a college student in Pennsylvania in 2013, has been extradited from France to the United States. Ian Cleary, aged 31 and originally from Saratoga, California, arrived in the U.S. on Thursday, and a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service stated that he was being transported to Pennsylvania. Cleary had been apprehended in April in Metz, France, following a three-year pursuit by authorities. A French appeals court later ruled that his extradition could proceed.
Cleary was formally transferred to U.S. officials at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport, as confirmed by the prosecutors’ office in Metz. Shannon Keeler, the former student from Gettysburg University who had driven the case forward for over a decade, expressed her relief over the development, stating that this news had restored her “renewed faith” in the judicial system.
“The arrest and extradition boost my belief that, even after many years of waiting, the justice process can be effective, especially when survivors are steadfast with the support of their family, friends, advocates, and lawyers,” Keeler articulated in a press release issued via her attorney.
Cleary had been the target of an international manhunt since Pennsylvania authorities issued a felony warrant in 2021, shortly after an Associated Press article highlighted local prosecutors’ hesitance to address sexual crimes on campus. The arrest warrant alleges that Cleary stalked the 18-year-old Keeler at a campus party in 2013, invaded her dormitory, and sexually assaulted her while she sought assistance via text messages to her friends. At the time, he was a 20-year-old student at Gettysburg but subsequently did not return to the institution.
On the same day of the assault, Keeler underwent a rape examination. Over the years, she compiled evidence and testimonials, urging officials to press charges. She approached law enforcement again in 2021 after finding Facebook messages that appeared to originate from Cleary’s account. These unsettling messages included statements such as, “So I raped you,” “I’ll never do it to anyone ever again,” and “I need to hear your voice.”
As noted in the June 2021 arrest warrant, police confirmed that the Facebook account responsible for the messages indeed belonged to Cleary. Typically, the AP does not name victims of sexual assault without their consent; however, Keeler has granted permission for her identity to be disclosed. Currently, no court dates have been set in Pennsylvania’s Adams County, which encompasses Gettysburg, and Cleary has not yet engaged legal representation according to court records. A woman who answered Cleary’s mother’s phone disconnected a reporter’s call, and attempts to reach his father were unsuccessful as the numbers provided were no longer operational.
Attorney Andrea Levy praised Keeler’s resilience, stating, “It took an incredible amount of courage and unwavering resolve for Shannon to get this far, and she is deeply grateful to law enforcement at every level who worked to locate, capture, and extradite Ian Cleary.”
