Dec 12, 2018 4 min read

A Greene County woman accused of sending her husband child pornography she recorded with a young girl while he was a fugitive wanted on child rape charges pleaded guilty Wednesday and agreed to testify against him at his upcoming trial.

Cheyenna Perry said little after Greene County Judge Lou Dayich sentenced her to 3 ½ to 7 years in state prison and ordered her to register for life as a sex offender after she pleaded guilty to all charges.

She also will cooperate with authorities in the case involving her husband, Matthew S. Perry, who is accused of raping an 11-year-old girl.

“You realize this conduct is really unimaginable?” Dayich asked her during her plea and sentencing hearing at the Greene County Courthouse in Waynesburg.

“I do,” Cheyenna Perry responded in a hushed tone.

Perry, 36, of Monongahela Township, pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal solicitation involving sexual deviate intercourse with a child, 15 counts each of sexual abuse of children by photographs or film, corruption of minors and dissemination of photos of a child – all felonies – and eight misdemeanor counts of indecent assault of a child.

State police accused Cheyenna Perry of recording videos and photos of an 11-year-old girl whom she directed to perform various sexual acts. Perry is seen in one video with the girl, police said. The videos and photos were sent to Matthew Perry while he was evading police for more than two months in the summer of 2017 before he was arrested Aug. 10 by U.S. marshals near a mosque in Morgantown, W.Va.

Her attorney, Gary Graminski, said she was “literally scared to death” of her husband, as he claimed to have associations with “the mob.” Graminski said Matthew Perry used those threats to coerce her into recording the pornography and sending it to him.

“As a result, if (she) didn’t do what he was asking, (she) would face injury or death,” Graminski said after the hearing. “It doesn’t change that deplorable things were done. But that’s why we’re here today.”

Greene County Assistant District Attorney Brianna Vannata said she now expects Cheyenna Perry to fully cooperate with the prosecution against her husband in the child rape case.

“I can’t believe she didn’t notice something in all that time. She has to look back and see what she missed,” Vannata said after the hearing. “She indicated she’d like to spend some time thinking it through and talking to police.”

Matthew Perry, 40, who is accused of raping an 11-year-old girl on several occasions in 2016 and 2017, also appeared in court Wednesday for his plea hearing. Unkempt and wearing a bushy beard, Perry appeared to be confused by the proceeding as he rapidly tapped his right foot throughout the hearing. His public defender, Harry Cancelmi, attempted to communicate with him but was able to glean few answers from Perry, except that he had not seen a psychiatrist while being held in the Greene County jail over the past three months.

Dayich also tried to communicate with Perry, but with little success.

“Do you know who Mr. Cancelmi is?” Dayich asked him about the public defender sitting directly to his left. “Do you know who that guy is next to you?”

After a few moments, Perry responded with a one-word answer: “lawyer.”

After struggling to communicate with his client, Cancelmi rejected a plea deal from prosecutors for Perry to spend 6 to 20 years in prison. Cancelmi asked Dayich for more access to Perry’s medical records. Perry spent several months undergoing mental evaluations and treatment at Torrance State Hospital before he was deemed competent to stand trial in September.

Dayich set jury selection for Jan. 9, but the trial will almost certainly be delayed if more motions are filed for medical records and to determine Perry’s mental state. Perry is being held in the Greene County jail on $150,000 bond while he awaits trial.

Vannata said Perry could eventually face more child rape charges in a separate case involving a different girl.