Ex-Gettysburg College student-athlete Ian Cleary was seen in prison photos for the first time since hiring a new lawyer to review the plea deal for his alleged rape of a female freshman — who he messaged years later “so I raped you,” according to a report.
Cleary, 32, hired a private attorney to review a potential plea deal negotiated by Pennsylvania public defenders onbehalf of the former Division III hockey goalie who allegedly raped a college freshman in her Gettsyburg College dorm room in 2013.
The plea deal had been in the works with the 32-year-old hiring a private attorney at the behest of his parents, the Adams County District Court heard Thursday.
Cleary is alleged to have raped Shannon Keeler, a then-18-year-old freshman at the Pennsylvania college, who has been trying to get justice for the attack for over a decade.
Keeler said Cleary followed her home after a frat party, where she and another female attendee said he made inappropriate remarks and was touchy.
Keeler was accompanied by a male friend on her short walk back and made it home safe, but later heard a knock at her door and thought it was her friend, she said. Instead, at the door was Cleary, whose name she didn’t even know at that point. He allegedly raped her in her dorm room before running off.
Keeler immediately went to police and underwent a rape test to support her claim that Cleary snuck into her dorm and raped her after a frat party — but it took a set of sick Facebook messages in 2021 to get investigators to pursue justice, she told the Associated Press the same year.
“So I raped you,” Cleary wrote to Keeler in an out-of-the-blue Facebook message.
In the direct messages, Cleary seemed to attempt to rationalize the alleged sex crime, saying that he had “to catch a plane” and that he was “high,” screengrabs of the messages show.
“I’ll never do it to anyone ever again,” the alleged rapist wrote.
“I need to hear your voice,” Cleary eerily wrote.
Keeler successfully lobbied Pennsylvania authorities to issue a felony warrant for his arrest in 2021 — eight years after local government and school officials failed to support her initial legal efforts.
After the assault in 2013, Cleary left campus in the wake of the burgeoning investigation and never returned — later graduating from Santa Clara University with undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Cleary’s withdrawal from the school ended the college’s Title IX investigation into the rape allegations.
He worked for carmaker Tesla before moving to France to pursue a lifestyle of travel and writing, according to his personal website.
Cleary was arrested in Metz, France in 2024 after a yearslong pursuit, extradited to the United States in January, and appeared in court for the first time Thursday less than one mile from where the alleged rape took place.
He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted and is due back in court on July 17.
If you have been sexually assaulted and live in New York, you can call 1-800-942-6906 for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the state, you can dial the 24/7 National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
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