Updated: Former Bourbon County cross country coach facing criminal sex charges dies in crash
A former Bourbon County cross country coach facing multiple sex-related charges died this week in a single-vehicle car crash, according to his attorney.
Matthew S. Perraut was charged with one count of sodomy third-degree and one count of unlawful transaction with a minor first-degree in October 2022, according to court records.
Perraut’s attorney, Tucker Richardson, of Baldani Law Group in Lexington, confirmed his client died as a result of a crash on Royster Road Tuesday.
The Fayette County Coroner’s Office declared Perraut dead just before 4 p.m. that day, they said in a statement Thursday.
A Bourbon County Grand Jury returned an indictment on the charges Tuesday, which would have sent the case to circuit court for official criminal charges to be filed.
“We were defending these charges vigorously,” Richardson told The Herald-Leader.
The crash happened around 2:52 p.m. Tuesday, Lexington police Lt. Paul Boyles said previously. The traffic management center described the wreck as a single-vehicle collision.
On Thursday, the Lexington Police Department said the investigation is still ongoing, according to Hannah Sloan, LPD spokesperson.
“What we do know is that a vehicle left the road and struck a tree that was a couple of feet off the roadway, but the cause of the collision is still under investigation,” she told the Herald-Leader in an emailed statement.
Boyles said only one person, a male, was inside the vehicle. The police department’s Collision Reconstruction Unit is investigating “due to the severity of the injuries,” he said.
The collision reconstruction unit determined that Perraut veered off the right side of the roadway and struck a tree head-on, according to official documents obtained by the Herald-Leader through an open records request. Perraut was trapped inside the vehicle after the collision and had to be extricated prior to the vehicle catching on fire.
The collision reconstruction unit determined no vehicular or environmental factors contributed to the crash, according to official documents. The unit also determined that there was no avoidance maneuver by Perraut before the collision.
Alcohol or drug use were not suspected to be factors in the collision, according to official documents.
An estimated speed of travel was not listed. The speed limit in the area was 55 miles per hour.
The extent of the damage to the vehicle was described as severe.
The road was completely shut down while the police department’s collision reconstruction unit investigated the crash.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 1:28 PM.
