Man Linked to ‘I Raped You’ Message Is Detained in France, Authorities Say

A man accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and then, years later, sending her a message that said “So I raped you” has been arrested in France, the authorities said.

The man, Ian Thomas Cleary of Saratoga, Calif., had been sought since 2021, when a warrant for his arrest was issued charging him with sexual assault. Mr. Cleary, 31, was detained last month in Metz, France, according to the prosecutor’s office at the Metz Appeals Court.

The prosecutor’s office said that Mr. Cleary had been arrested in connection with a case involving the possession of stolen goods. It did not provide further details about the circumstances of the arrest but said that Mr. Cleary had told the French police that he had been in France for the past two to three years.

Mr. Cleary is still in detention, the prosecutor’s office said. It was not immediately clear how quickly Mr. Cleary might be extradited to the United States, but the prosecutor’s office said he could be detained for up to 60 days, which is the amount of time American judicial authorities have to file an official extradition request.

The arrest warrant was issued after Shannon Keeler discovered a series of Facebook messages from Mr. Cleary and showed them to the authorities in Adams County, Pa., where she was a student at Gettysburg College at the time of the reported attack. A lawyer for Ms. Keeler, Andrea M. Levy, said she was not commenting on the investigation on Tuesday.

Ms. Keeler reported a sexual assault to the Gettysburg Police Department on Dec. 15, 2013, after she and some friends attended a party on the Gettysburg College campus to celebrate the end of finals, according to a probable cause affidavit.