LYON, France (AP) — A French court docket dominated on Monday that the American man accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania faculty pupil in 2013 and later sending her a Fb message that stated, “So I raped you,” may be extradited to the USA.
Ian Cleary, 31, of Saratoga, California, was detained in April within the metropolis of Metz in northeastern France after a three-year search. He has been held in custody pending extradition proceedings since his arrest.
The Court docket of Enchantment in Metz stated that Cleary may be extradited. When requested if he wished to be extradited or not, in keeping with French legislation, Cleary refused, prosecutors stated in an announcement Monday. His refusal might delay the extradition course of, but it surely will not cease it.
The ruling is last. Cleary’s case is now the accountability of the French Justice Ministry, which should put together and submit the extradition order for the French prime minister. Whereas he awaits the prime minister’s signature, Cleary stays detained in France.
Justice Ministry officers did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
Cleary had been the topic of a global search since authorities in Pennsylvania issued a 2021 felony warrant within the case weeks after an Related Press story detailed the reluctance of native prosecutors to pursue campus intercourse crimes.
The arrest warrant accuses Cleary of stalking an 18-year-old Gettysburg School pupil at a celebration, sneaking into her dorm and sexually assaulting her whereas she texted pals for assist. He was a 20-year-old Gettysburg pupil on the time, however did not return to campus.
The Gettysburg accuser, Shannon Keeler, had a rape examination achieved the identical day she was assaulted in 2013. She gathered witnesses and proof and spent years urging officers to file costs. She went to authorities once more in 2021 after discovering the Fb messages that appeared to come back from Cleary’s account.
“So I raped you,” the sender had written in a string of messages.
“I’ll by no means do it to anybody ever once more.”
“I would like to listen to your voice.”
“I’ll pray for you.”
The AP does not usually establish sexual assault victims with out their permission, which Keeler has granted. The accuser’s lawyer in Pennsylvania, reached on Monday, declined to touch upon the event.
Based on the June 2021 warrant, police verified that the Fb account used to ship the messages belonged to Ian Cleary. Adams County District Legal professional Brian Sinnett, who filed it, declined to touch upon developments when reached Monday.
After leaving Gettysburg, Cleary earned undergraduate and graduate levels from Santa Clara College, close to his household residence in California, labored for Tesla, after which moved to France for a number of years, in accordance with his web site, which describes his self-published medieval fiction.
Keeler, initially from Moorestown, New Jersey, stayed on to graduate from Gettysburg and assist lead the ladies’s lacrosse staff to a nationwide title.
By 2023, two years after the warrant was filed, Keeler and her legal professionals puzzled how he was avoiding seize within the age of digital monitoring. The U.S. Marshals Service thought he was doubtless abroad and on the transfer, whilst he was the topic of an Interpol alert referred to as a pink discover.
Throughout the U.S., only a few campus rapes are prosecuted, each as a result of victims concern going to police and prosecutors hesitate to deliver instances that may be arduous to win, the AP investigation discovered.
Keeler, when the warrant was issued, stated she was grateful, however knew it solely occurred “as a result of I went public with my story, which no survivor ought to must do as a way to get hold of justice.”
