COVINGTON, Ky. -- Authorities are asking any other victims of a man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl to come forward.
Matthew Ryan Bucher, 29, stands accused of second degree rape, six counts of promoting a sexual performance by a minor and six counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor.
Detectives say they located additional evidence suggesting Bucher has victimized a dozen or more other female juveniles.
Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders and Kenton County Police Chief Spike Jones discussed the newly discovered evidence at a news conference Friday morning. Sanders explained that Bucher also operated under the alias Matt C. Percin and used a variety of photos. He said Bucher used social media apps including Facebook, Kik and Meet-Me to talk with young girls.
Police say Bucher made his victims think they were dating and that he would purchase gifts for them and take them on dates. In some cases, police say Bucher would take the young girls to his Fort Mitchell apartment, which he shared with his mom, to sexually assault and photograph them.
"Bucher is a bad guy. He's the worst of the worst," Jones said. "We don't know how many victims potentially this gentleman has, how many people he's victimized. We do know they could go from as far as Dayton, Ohio, to Louisville, Kentucky. There are people that have probably been in contact with Bucher that are ashamed to come forward and report what happened to them. This is what we've seen in the investigation that Mr. Sanders just referred to. He commits these heinous acts on these children. Our victim is 12-years-old. Children. Here's an adult. Then he shames these children so they won't tell on him. This is the worst of the worst."
Police say they discovered more than 60,000 images of child pornography on his devices. Authorities in Kenton County want to stress to anybody who may have more information to come forward to prevent this from happening to other little girls.
A special hotline has been set up just for tips in this case. The number is 859-240-8548.
