An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Gettysburg College upperclassman accused of raping a freshman on campus nearly eight years ago.
The legal action against Ian Cleary, 28, also comes a year after his accuser, Shannon Keeler, now 26, says she received startling Facebook messages from him addressing the 2013 encounter that reopened the years-old case.
“So I raped you,” the message read. “I’ll never do it to anyone ever again… I need to hear your voice.”
Police are now on the hunt for Cleary, a former goalie on the college ice hockey team who was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting Keeler in her dorm room after meeting her at an end-of-semester fraternity party.
“While I am moved to tears by this result, which I have waited for over seven years, I am mindful that this moment came because I went public with my story, which no survivor should have to do in order to obtain justice,” Keeler said in a statement to the Associated Press through her lawyer.
The affidavit filed along with the warrant says police got a search warrant for Cleary’s Facebook account to link him to the Facebook messages through a matching cellphone number.
Cleary, who was a junior at the time, left the college after that semester, ending the school’s Title IX investigation, Keeler has said.
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.
The case against him was reopened last year by the Gettysburg Police Department after Keeler handed over a flurry of new Facebook messages she said was from her alleged rapist.
Keeler always felt she had a strong case, gathering evidence that included witnesses at the frat party, frantic texts seeking help, hospital rape exam and a statement from a male friend who escorted her home from the party to keep her safe.
The testimony says Cleary followed them and offered $20 to leave him alone with Keeler.
With Post wires
