Chase Matthew Bassist Carsen Richards Charged with Child Sex Crimes After Concert Arrest

Carsen Richards, the 22-year-old bassist for country star Chase Matthew, faces multiple child sex crime charges following his arrest after a performance in Owensboro, Kentucky, on Saturday. Fox News Digital confirmed the charges through Daviess County jail records.

Richards has been charged with sodomy and incest involving a person under 18 by someone three or more years older. He is held on $75,000 bond at the Daviess County Detention Center.

Owensboro Police Department detectives learned from Winchester, Kentucky, police that Richards was wanted on felony charges. They knew his band would perform at the BBQ & Barrels event on May 9, 2026. Winchester detectives noted Richards had access to multiple firearms and was often armed. Owensboro's Criminal Investigations Division planned an operation to arrest him if needed.

Officers identified Richards during Matthew's set and took him into custody at 9:40 p.m., just after he left the stage, before he reached a tour bus and away from the crowd. He was not armed at the time.

An arrest warrant obtained by LEX18, a local NBC affiliate, shows the victim's mother reported to Winchester Police in November 2025 that her autistic son had been abused by Richards. The victim confirmed the abuse in a December 2025 interview, saying Richards assaulted him in 2020 and 2022, when he was 12 and 14.

The mother confronted Richards at his Tennessee apartment in February. During the confrontation, Richards said, "There is nothing more I have regretted in my life. I made an awful mistake."

Matthew posted on Instagram shortly after the arrest. "This situation has honestly been one of the most shocking and heartbreaking things I’ve ever experienced," he wrote. "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."

Matthew said Richards was immediately removed from the band. "And I want to be very clear: I do not support or tolerate behavior of this kind whatsoever," he continued. "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."