Pennsylvania child rapist sentenced to 3,000 years in prison

A Pennsylvania man who raped a girl on a daily basis for at least six years has been sentenced to 3,000 years in prison, prosecutors say, making it one of the longest sentences in U.S. history.

Matthew Perry, 44, of Greensboro, was convicted of raping a young girl thousands of time during a six-year period, which started when the victim was around 5 years old. She was 11 when Perry was initially charged.

“The victim testified [that] being raped every day became as routine as brushing her teeth,” Greene County District Attorney David Russo said last year. “Throughout the testimony, the victim testified she felt helpless, hopeless, and she prayed for God to help, but no one came.”

A friend of the victim, who saw what was happening, reported the abuse to the school counselor, which led to the investigation in 2017. The case took years to get to trial because Perry was originally deemed incompetent to stand trial and admitted for mental health treatment.

Prosecutors eventually decided to charge Perry with one count for every day the child was raped, resulting in more than 13,000 felony charges, including 2,190 counts of rape of a child under 13 and 2,190 counts of incest of a minor.

On Tuesday, a court in Greene County sentenced Perry to 3,000 years in prison, making it one of the longest sentences in both Pennsylvania and U.S. history. He will not be eligible for parole until the year 3523.

Last year, Perry was sentenced to between 40 and 80 years in prison for repeatedly raping another young girl between the summer of 2016 and March 2017, when the victim was about 10-11 years old. Relatives said the girl was devastated by the abuse and was hospitalized for mental health issues just before the trial.

Perry’s wife, 40-year-old Cheyenna Perry, was sentenced to 3.5 to 7 years in prison for recording videos and taking photos of a girl engaged in sexual acts. She sent the videos to her husband while he was trying to evade capture in the summer of 2017. Cheyenna was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.