Monongahela Township man faces thousands of child rape charges
CARMICHAELS – A Monongahela Township man awaiting trial later this month on accusations he molested a young girl several years ago is now facing more than 2,000 counts of child rape and thousands of other felony charges in another case.
State police on Wednesday charged 42-year-old Matthew S. Perry with nearly 15,000 separate counts for ongoing abuse of a young girl that dates back to 2008, court records indicate.
Investigators spoke to the girl Oct. 2 when she told them Perry molested and raped her in 2008 and from 2011 through 2017. The girl told police that Perry raped or molested her regularly, sometimes twice a day, according to court documents.
Court documents did not identify the girl’s age when she allegedly was abused, although the charges indicate she was a preteen during at least part of that time.
Perry faces 12,438 felony charges that include child rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated assault of a child and corruption of a minor, along with 2,191 misdemeanor counts of indecent assault of a child.
Perry was originally accused of raping an 11-year-old girl and taking provocative photos of her in 2016. Police also said his wife at the time, Cheyenna Perry, was accused of recording videos with a girl and sending them to him while he was a fugitive after investigators filed charges in June 2017. He was arrested two months later by U.S. marshals in Morgantown, W.Va., but sent to a Torrance State Hospital near Blairsville for a mental health evaluation after he was deemed incompetent to stand trial.
After returning, he was ordered to stand trial in that case in September 2018, and later charged with with raping and fondling another girl in a separate case around the same time. That case has not proceeded to court, and it is unknown if it is related to the newest charges.
Meanwhile, Cheyenna Perry is serving a sentence of 3½ to 7 years in state prison after she pleaded guilty in December 2018 to manufacturing child pornography that was produced with one of the girls. The plea deal requires her to testify against Matthew Perry at his trial on the original charges, with is scheduled to begin Oct. 28 before Greene County Judge Lou Dayich.
Perry is being held at the Greene County jail without bond while awaiting trial. Harry Cancelmi, his public defender in that case, said Thursday he was not aware of the newest charges against Perry and is not yet representing him in the case.
District Judge Lee Watson arraigned Perry on Thursday and set his preliminary hearing for 1 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Greene County Courthouse.