Five arrested in connection with Matthew Perry’s death from effects of ketamine
The star’s assistant, two doctors and an alleged dealer known as the ‘Ketamine Queen’ were among those charged in connection with the death of the Friends actor, authorities said.
Five people, including Matthew Perry’s assistant and two doctors, were charged in connection with the death of the “Friends” actor last year, authorities said Thursday.
Perry, who struggled with addiction for much of his life, got hooked on ketamine last fall and died after taking some obtained from a drug dealer, authorities said at a news briefing Thursday. The 54-year-old Perry was found unresponsive in a pool at his Los Angeles home in October.
The five people face various charges, including ketamine distribution and falsifying records related to the investigation into Perry’s death, according to federal prosecutors in California’s central district. One of the doctors, 42-year-old Salvador Plasencia, and the drug dealer, 41-year-old Jasveen Sangha, were arrested on Thursday. Sangha is known as the “ketamine queen,” prosecutors said.
The other three charged — who helped prescribe, sell or inject the ketamine that killed Perry — have signed plea agreements.
“They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry but they did it anyway,” said Martin Estrada, the U.S. lawyer in California’s central district.
Perry’s death shocked fans of the popular sitcom “Friends,” who a year earlier had gone back into the public eye to promote his memoir about substance-abuse issues. He had gone to a clinic to treat his depression and anxiety and had received intravenous ketamine, according to Anne Milgram, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. After clinic doctors refused to increase his dosage, he spent tens of thousands of dollars obtaining vials of the powerful anaesthetic from drug dealers.
Perry’s death brought fresh attention to the debate over ketamine, which is increasingly used for recreational purposes. Ketamine is a mind-altering anaesthetic approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to anaesthetise people and animals.
Some doctors prescribe ketamine off-label to treat patients with conditions including severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. General ketamine isn’t approved for those uses. There is a booming business of start-ups prescribing ketamine.
Perry, who was open about his substance-abuse struggles, said in his 2022 memoir that he spent $7 million trying to get help and stayed in rehab 15 times.
The actor had played a game of pickleball on the day he died, according to his assistant. The assistant returned later from running errands and found Perry floating facedown in a pool, according to the autopsy report. The assistant jumped in the water, moved Perry to a sitting position on the pool steps and called 911. Paramedics pulled him onto the grass and declared him unresponsive.
Drowning, coronary artery disease and “buprenorphine effects” also contributed to his death, according to Perry’s autopsy report. He had been sober for 19 months before his death, the autopsy report said.
Two doctors, Plasencia of Santa Monica and 54-year-old Mark Chavez of San Diego, worked to obtain ketamine for Perry, prosecutors said. In text messages discussing how much to charge the actor, Plasencia told Chavez, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.” Plasencia taught Perry’s live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, how to inject ketamine into Perry, prosecutors said. Another man, Erik Fleming, 54, helped distribute the ketamine and gave vials to Iwamasa four days before the actor died
Sangha sold the ketamine batch responsible for Perry’s death, charging $50,000 for about 50 vials, prosecutors said. When authorities searched her home earlier this year, they found what they called a drug-selling emporium with dozens of ketamine vials and thousands of pills containing methamphetamine.
Prosecutors said she continued to sell ketamine even after learning a man she sold ketamine to in 2019 had died. She faces an additional drug-distribution charge for the man’s death.
Sangha faces up to life in prison and Plasencia’s maximum penalty is 120 years, prosecutors said. They are set to be arraigned on Thursday.
The other three being charged face smaller maximum penalties: Iwamasa could spend as much as 15 years in prison, Fleming faces 25 years and Chavez faces as much as 10 years.
“Mr Perry fell back into addiction and these defendants took advantage to profit for themselves,” Estrada said.
After the actor’s death, a foundation was set up in this name to help others struggling with addiction.
“The Matthew Perry Foundation is the realisation of Matthew’s enduring commitment to helping others struggling with the disease of addiction,” the organisation said in a statement at the time.
The Wall Street Journal
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