An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Gettysburg College student accused of raping a freshman on campus in an incident that took place in 2013
Ian Cleary, 28, has been charged with sexual assault, nearly eight years after Shannon Keeler, 26, went to Gettysburg police claiming that he had raped her on campus.
'So I Raped You'
According to the affidavit filed along with the arrest warrant, police obtained a search warrant for Cleary's Facebook account after he sent Keeler a message on the platform from his account. Police then linked the account to Cleary through a matching cell phone number, according to the affidavit.
"So I raped you," the message read. "I'll never do it to anyone ever again... I need to hear your voice." The rape case was reopened after Keeler alerted police of the Facebook messages, which were the only piece of evidence of the crime.
Cleary Stalked Keeler, Raped Her in Her Dorm Room in December 2013
Cleary, then a goalie on the college ice hockey team, was accused of stalking Keeler, who was 18 at the time, at a fraternity party in December 2013. He then followed her to her dorm room and raped her, according to the warrant. After he fled, Keeler texted her friends on the campus, "OMG please Help me."
Keeler went to police hours after the encounter and had a rape kit done at a local hospital, and despite there being witnesses at the frat party and a statement from a male friend who escorted her home from the party saying that Cleary followed them and offered him $20 to leave him alone with Keeler, she graduated three years later without an arrest in the case.
Authorities at the time told her it was hard to prosecute cases when the victim had been drinking, she said. The rape kit was later lost but it was the Facebook messages, years later, that finally gave police the evidence they were looking for.
Police have not yet been able to locate Cleary. Although he is a resident of Saratoga, California, but appears to have recently spent time in Europe — and authorities said their search for him may span overseas.
