Ian Cleary Case: Guilty Plea, Sentence, and Keeler’s Response

Ian Cleary was sentenced on October 20, 2025 to two to four years in a Pennsylvania state prison for the 2013 sexual assault of Shannon Keeler in her Gettysburg College dorm room, a case reopened years later after Cleary sent Keeler a Facebook message that read, “So I raped you.” Senior Judge Kevin Hess handed down the term after Cleary, 32, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to second-degree sexual assault.¹

What the Sentence Means

Cleary received credit for roughly 18 months already served since French police detained him in April 2024, which makes him eligible for parole after about six more months. He is also required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.¹

The two-to-four-year term fell below Pennsylvania’s sentencing guidelines and below what both sides had proposed. Prosecutors and defense counsel had jointly recommended four to eight years, though Judge Hess was free to accept or reject that range.² Cleary’s defense attorney, John Abom, had asked for 18 months, which would have amounted to time served, and called the final decision “very thoughtful and compassionate.”¹

Judge Hess called the crime “horrifying” but cited Cleary’s guilty plea, expressed remorse, and long history of mental illness in explaining the below-guidelines term. “We wouldn’t be here today but for his hope for some kind of forgiveness and contrition,” the judge said. Cleary apologized in court to Keeler and her family and said he was “committed to getting treatment for mental health and stuff like that as I go forward.”³

The Charge He Pleaded To

On July 17, 2025, Cleary pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault, a charge that carries a maximum of ten years in prison.² The original 2021 arrest warrant had included sexual assault and stalking charges.⁴

The 2013 Assault

Shannon Keeler was an 18-year-old freshman and lacrosse player at Gettysburg College in December 2013 when Cleary, an upperclassman, harassed her at a fraternity party. After a friend walked her back to her dorm, Cleary followed, knocked, entered uninvited, and sexually assaulted her in her room.⁵

Keeler reported the assault to campus and local police the same day, was questioned for hours, underwent a rape kit examination, and identified witnesses.⁶ Adams County District Attorney Shawn Wagner declined to prosecute, telling Keeler that “when alcohol’s involved, it’s really difficult to prove that a sexual assault occurred.”⁷ Cleary withdrew from Gettysburg the following semester, ending the school’s Title IX investigation. The rape kit was later destroyed after the case was closed.⁸

The Facebook Messages That Reopened the Case

In 2019, Cleary sent Keeler a series of Facebook messages. One read, “So I raped you.” Others included “I’ll never do it to anyone ever again,” “I need to hear your voice,” and “I need to know if I did it or not.”⁴ Keeler found the messages in 2020 and brought them to Adams County authorities, who confirmed the account belonged to Cleary.⁶

Cleary later told the court the messages had been part of a 12-step program and were meant as atonement.³ His attorney said Cleary had been hospitalized around that time and had experienced multiple mental health episodes.⁹

Why Charges Weren’t Filed Until 2021

After the original DA declined the case, Keeler spent years pressing authorities to reopen it. She retained attorney Laura Dunn and worked with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.¹⁰ In 2021 she told her story to the Associated Press.⁸ Weeks later, on June 30, 2021, the Adams County District Attorney’s Office, now under Brian Sinnett, filed a felony arrest warrant.⁴

The case remained prosecutable because of Pennsylvania’s Act 87 of 2019, signed by Governor Tom Wolf, which extended the criminal statute of limitations for sexual assault against victims aged 18 to 23 to 20 years from the date of the offense.¹¹

Arrest in France and Extradition

By the time the warrant issued, Cleary was overseas. The U.S. Marshals Service put out a wanted poster and Interpol issued a red notice.¹² On April 24, 2024, French police stopped Cleary during a routine check on the streets of Metz.⁴ He told a French magistrate he had come to France from Albania two or three years earlier and had no housing in Metz.¹³ His attorney argued he had been homeless at times and did not know about the charges. DA Sinnett said he had “doubts” about that but acknowledged he could not prove Cleary was intentionally on the run.¹⁴

A French appeals court approved extradition on July 8, 2024, and French officials handed Cleary to U.S. authorities at Charles de Gaulle Airport on January 16, 2025.¹⁵ He was arraigned the next day before Magisterial District Judge Tony J. Little in Adams County and held without bail.¹⁶

Keeler’s Response to the Sentence

Keeler gave a ten-minute impact statement at the hearing, telling Cleary the assault had shifted “my confidence, my self-care, my relationship with my body.” She also criticized the process that had let her case sit for years: “The system meant to protect me protected you instead.”³

Afterward, she told reporters the term was shorter than she had hoped. “It definitely was shorter than we expected and less than I think he deserved,” she said. “But you know what? He’s going to jail and he’s going to have the label of a sexual predator for the rest of his life, and that’s accountability, and that’s justice.”¹ Her attorney, Andrea Levy, called the sentence “less than what we expected and certainly less than he deserves.”¹⁴

In a later “Good Morning America” interview, Keeler said she had forgiven Cleary. “Ultimately, forgiveness doesn’t just set him free. It sets me free too. I don’t want to live with anger. I believe in redemption as well, and he still has the power to live a good life and become a good person and do the right thing.”⁵

1
New York Times. Pennsylvania Student Rape Messages Case: Sentencing
2
WBOY. Man Who Sent Facebook Message About Campus Sexual Assault Pleads Guilty
3
Courthouse News Service. Man Who Sent ‘So I Raped You’ Message Sentenced to 2 to 4 Years
4
WGAL. Ian Cleary Sentenced in Gettysburg College Rape Case
5
ABC News. Woman Speaks After Sentencing of Man Who Confessed to Sexual Assault on Facebook
6
People. Ian Cleary Sentenced in Shannon Keeler Sexual Assault Case
7
ABC News. Facebook Message Leads to Arrest Warrant in Pennsylvania Sexual Assault Case
8
KPTV. Man Who Sent ‘So I Raped You’ Message Sentenced to 2-4 Years
9
Washington Times. Ian Cleary Pleads Guilty After Facebook Message About Campus Sexual Assault
10
ABC 7 New York. Facebook Confession Revives Gettysburg College Sexual Assault Case
11
PCAR. Statute of Limitations Reform Fact Sheet
12
NBC Los Angeles. American Sought After ‘So I Raped You’ Facebook Message Detained in France
13
Washington Post. Ian Cleary Extradited From France After Facebook Confession
14
NBC News. Man Who Sent ‘So I Raped You’ Message Sentenced to 2 to 4 Years
15
New York Times. Gettysburg College Student Rape Case: Extradition From France
16
Evening Sun. Ian Cleary Arraigned in Adams County