UPDATED with arraignment details: Five defendants have been charged in connection with the ketamine-related death of actor Matthew Perry, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced Thursday during a news conference in Los Angeles.
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The five include a live-in assistant, two doctors and a woman known as the “Ketamine Queen.” Estrada says the defendants are part of a “broad underground criminal network” that supplied ketamine to Perry and others, Estrada said. He says the suspects “took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich
themselves.”
Two of the five have been arrested — Jasveen Sangha, 41, aka “The Ketamine Queen,” of North Hollywood, and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 42, aka “Dr. P,” of Santa Monica, Estrada said.
Both pleaded not guilty later in the day and were arraigned at U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. U.S. Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar ordered Sangha detained (jailed without bond), and set Plasencia’s bond at $100,000. Plasencia’s trial date is October 8 and Sangha’s trial date is October 15, though the DOJ said this afternoon it expects those dates “will be consolidated at some point in the near future.”
The others are Eric Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne, who pleaded guilty August 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death, admitting that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, according to prosecutors. Also charged are Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, of Toluca Lake, Perry’s live-in assistant, who allegedly conspired with Sangha, Fleming and Plasencia to illegally obtain ketamine and distribute it to Perry, and Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, a physician who has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, admitting to selling ketamine to Plasencia, including ketamine that he had diverted from his former ketamine clinic.
“These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said.
According to the superseding indictment unsealed today, in late September 2023, Plasencia learned that Perry, whose history of drug addiction was well documented, was interested in obtaining ketamine. Plasencia mocked Perry in a text message in 2023, writing, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets [sic] find out.”
Sangha sold the ketamine batch responsible for Perry’s death, charging $50,000 for about 50 vials, prosecutors said.
Found in a hot tub, Perry died October 28 , 2023 at age 54 at his home in Los Angeles. On December 15, 2023, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office declared that Perry passed away from the “acute effects of ketamine.” The autopsy report also cited drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine — a drug used to treat opioid use disorder — as contributing to his death.
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According to prosecutors, Perry received several injections on the day he died from Iwamasa, his live-in personal assistant.
“This is a very difficult case to piece together,” a senior law enforcement source told Deadline earlier Thursday. “What has happened today and will be announced … there will be likely be more arrests later.”
As more and more of the details in this case and Perry’s behavior in his final months become known, a different portrait is emerging of the Friends star, who insisted in both his recently published memoir and in public that he was embracing a life of sobriety.
In May, an LAPD spokesperson told Deadline an open investigation into Perry’s death was underway with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
The LAPD issued the following formal statement in May:
“On October 28, 2023, the Los Angeles Police Department responded to the residence of actor Matthew Perry to conduct a death investigation. On October 29, 2023, an autopsy of Mr. Perry was performed by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner. On December 15, 2023, the results of the autopsy indicated that Mr. Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine.” Based on the Medical Examiner’s findings, the Los Angeles Police Department, with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Postal Inspection Service, has continued its investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Perry’s death . “
Although believed by many to be sober at the time of his death, the multi-Emmy-nominated Canadian-American actor had a long and well-documented history of battling alcohol and prescription drugs abuse. In fact, not long before his death, Perry had been speaking aloud about his struggles and a desire to help other also fighting addiction. He detailed his past and present struggles in his 2022 bestselling memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing .
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