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Chase Matthew spoke out after his now-former bandmate was arrested over the weekend.
Matthew, 28, said “this situation has honestly been one of the most shocking and heartbreaking things I’ve ever experienced,” as he opened a statement on Monday (May 11).
Court records show ex-bandmate Carsen Richards, 22, is charged with two counts of second-degree sodomy and two counts of incest involving a person under 18 by a person three or more years older, per the Owensboro Times and the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer. The local publications state that the alleged incidents occurred in Clark County in December 2020 and December 2022, involving a child with autism who was 12 years old at the time of the first incident. A team of law enforcement officers arrested Richards when he exited the stage at the BBQ and Barrels event on Saturday night (May 9) in Owensboro, Kentucky. A spokesperson explained to the Times that they waited until Richards was off stage because they were concerned that he was armed (police confirmed Richards was not armed at the time of the arrest). Richards was booked into the Daviess County Detention Center, where he’s held on a $75,000 cash bond.
“This situation has honestly been one of the most shocking and heartbreaking things I’ve ever experienced,” Matthew said. “When I first heard the allegations, I was sick to my stomach. I would never associate myself with a person I think could even be remotely capable of something like this, much less hire them to be on my team.
“The reality is, you don’t always know what someone may be doing outside of your workplace, and nothing would have made me believe this was a possibility,” he continued. “As of his arrest this past weekend, this individual was immediately removed from the band and is no longer associated with me or my team in any capacity.
“And I want to be very clear: I do not support or tolerate behavior of this kind whatsoever,” Matthew said. “I am truly disturbed and disgusted by the details of these allegations. My heart breaks for anyone affected. Like you, I’m learning this information as it comes out publicly. I don’t know anything more than y’all know. This is an ongoing legal matter, and I trust that the legal system will go through the correct procedures to get to the bottom of this."
See his statement here: