Man who sent 'So I raped you' message in 2019 sentenced to prison

The man who sent a Facebook message reading “So I raped you” to a college classmate he sexually assaulted in 2013, was sentenced to two to four years in prison Monday.

The attacker, Ian Cleary pleaded guilty and has a long history of mental illness. 

Senior Judge Kevin Hess when sentencing Cleary on Monday considered those factors before delivering a sentence below Pennsylvania’s guidelines for the crime. Cleary faced a maximum of 10 years in prison. Initially, the two sides proposed a sentence of four to eight years.

“The defendant has admitted his guilt,” Hess said. “He’s come forward and even though 10 to 11 alarming years have passed in the meantime, we wouldn’t be here today but for his hope for some kind of forgiveness and contrition.”

Victim Shannon Keeler first went to police nearly 12 years ago.

“The system meant to protect me protected you instead,” Keeler said in a roughly 10-minute-long victim-impact statement . “This isn’t just my story. It’s the story of countless women.”

Keeler’s lawyer, Andrea Levy, called Cleary’s sentence “certainly less than he deserves,” but also expressed relief that the case was over.

Cleary sent the Facebook message in 2019 and Keeler came forward in 2021 after multiple prosecutors refused to pick up her case against him.

“The system that failed me a decade ago finally delivered accountability, but at a cost. Evidence was lost, time passed,” Keeler also said Monday. “My life moved on, but the impact never went away. Not for me, not for my family, not for anyone who had to watch this unfold again and again.”

The sentence comes more than a year after authorities extradited Cleary from France back to the United States.