A former Bourbon County High School cross country coach died in a crash on Tuesday, the same day a grand jury returned a 10-count indictment against him.
45-year-old Matthew Perraut, who had coached or assisted cross country with the school since 2008, was indicted on three counts of third-degree sodomy, six counts of third-degree rape, and one count of first-degree sexual abuse, according to court records.
Perraut died in a single-vehicle crash into a tree on Royster Road in Lexington, according to the Fayette County Coroner’s Office.
The indictment included new charges against Perraut and involved a victim that wasn’t mentioned in the prior criminal complaint.
Perraut’s original charges involved two male students who were on the cross country team, according to court records.
The additional counts of rape, sodomy, and sex abuse involved an underage girl who was on the cross country team. She’s now an adult and told LEX 18 over Facebook that she’d struggled for months about coming forward with what she said happened when she was 14 to 16 years old.
She said at least one of the incidents between her and Perraut happened on school property. She told us she came forward “to protect younger girls who could have been in the same position” as her.
The grand jury dropped a charge of unlawful transaction with a minor against Perraut, according to court records.
Lexington police say the cause of the crash is still under investigation but were able to release that the tree Perraut hit was a couple of feet off the roadway.
The coroner’s office lists the manner of Perraut’s death as an accident.
Perraut’s attorney told LEX 18 that Perraut had been driving to his brother’s farm when the crash happened.
He described Perraut as a “good guy” who did a lot of good for Bourbon County and said that Perraut now won’t get the chance to clear his name in court.
Perraut was suspended from his job as cross country coach after his arrest and later resigned from the position, according to Bourbon County Schools.
