A musician tied to Chase Matthew was arrested Saturday night in Owensboro and is charged with sodomy and incest with a person under 18.
Carsen Richards, 22, was taken into custody Saturday night, the same night Chase Matthew headlined the BBQ and Barrels festival in Owensboro. The arrest places the case in public view at a moment when the band was already drawing a crowd downtown.
Kentucky court records show the charge is out of Clark County. Social media profiles for Richards identify him as the bassist for Chase Matthew, linking the arrest to a touring act that had a high-profile stop in Owensboro just hours earlier.
The charge sheet gives only part of the picture, and that is where the story tightens. Richards is accused in a case involving a person under 18, but the records provided do not spell out the circumstances behind the arrest or how the Clark County charge reached Owensboro. Those gaps will matter to anyone trying to understand whether this is a local arrest, a travel-related case or something still moving through the court system.
For now, the facts are plain: a 22-year-old member of Chase Matthew's band was arrested on child sex crime charges on the very night the act topped the bill in Owensboro, turning what should have been a festival appearance into a much wider story.
