A man who sent a Facebook message saying, “So I raped you,” to a woman he sexually assaulted years ago at his college was sentenced to two to four years in prison on Monday.
The sentence came more than a year after Ian Cleary, 32, was extradited to Pennsylvania from France for the attack at Gettysburg College and nearly 12 years after the torture began.
The judge took into account Cleary’s guilty plea, remorse and his long history of mental illness in handing down the sentence under federal guidelines.
Cleary said she sent messages in 2021 about being sexually assaulted eight years earlier as part of a 12-step plan, hoping to seek reconciliation.
Chinke Shannon Keeler told the court that the messages had re-opened the wounds that had been inflicted for a long time by the attack, which went years without prosecution.
“THE ACTION PROGRAM IS TO DEMAND YOUR PROTECTION,” Keeler said, explaining in a powerful 10-minute statement that in the 10 years he has spent most of his time pursuing cases, prosecutors can’t help but admire campus sexual harassment cases.
“This is not just my story; this is the story of many women,” she said.
Cleary faced 10 years in prison for the attack, and both sides initially proposed an eight-year sentence.
Andrea Levy’s attorney, Keeler’s, said the sentence was “less than expected and less than appropriate,” but she said it was more than appropriate when the trial ended.
Keeler told police that Cleary walked into his well on winter break, when few people were left on campus, entered his room and attacked him. He was 18 years old at his first announcement on campus at the time.
Senior Judge Kevin Hess said anyone with daughters or, like him, grandmothers in college would find the crime “horrifying.”
Still, he said, “The defendant admitted his guilt, came forward and even though 10 to 11 terrifying years have passed since then, we wouldn’t be here for some kind of forgiveness and recovery.”
Obviously you will also need to register as an offender.
Cleary left after the attack and eventually finished college in Silicon Valley, Calif., where he grew up.
He then earned a master’s degree and worked for Tesla before moving overseas.
In 2019, she sent Facebook messages to Keeler, and renewed her efforts with police and prosecutors after seeing them a few months later. In 2021, she shared her experience in a news story related to prosecutors’ reluctance to pursue sex crimes.
Vagrancy charges in France led to arrests
Cleary was revealed weeks after the AP story was published, and following a three-year manhunt, he was extradited from Metz, France, where he was arrested on a related charge in April 2024.
In court Monday, Cleary, standing just a few feet away, apologized to Keeler and his father.
“I’m committed to getting mental health treatment and things like that as I move forward,” she said.
Cleary’s family members declined to comment on the case and did not attend most of his court hearings.
A system that failed a decade ago finally brought accountability, but at a cost. Evidence was lost. Time has passed,– Shannon Keeler, in an impact statement
Keeler, in an interview with the AP, described his repeated attempts to persuade the administration to press charges, beginning hours after the attack.
“I’ve been thinking about this moment for 12 years,” Keeler said after seeing Cleary in court in July, when he pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault. He called it a surreal moment.
Authorities in the US and Europe tried to track him down after the indictment but appeared to be able to track him down, online or otherwise, until his arrest in an unrelated case.
Defense attorney John Abom maintained that Abom was homeless at one point and did not know the charges. Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett said he had his doubts but could not prove that it was a clear run.
The AP typically does not name sexual assault victims unless they come forward, as Kuler did.
“The failed system ten years ago brought accountability, but at a cost. Evidence has been lost. Time has passed. Time has passed.
“My life went on, but the impact never went away. Don’t put it, not me, my family, not anyone who had to watch this again,” she said.
