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In Touch Weekly
Matthew Perry’s Final Words in the Hours Before His Death Revealed in Court Documents
By Mike Hammer,
20 hours ago
Denise Truscello / Getty Images
Matthew Perry’s final words in the hours before his death were revealed in new court documents after five people were arrested in connection with the Friends star’s death in October 2023.
According to legal documents obtained by In Touch, Perry’s live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, injected the actor with ketamine at “approximately 8:30 a.m.” on October 28, 2023. Less than four hours later, Perry received a second injection by Iwamasa, 59. When Perry requested a third injection “approximately 40 minutes later,” Iwamasa claimed that The Whole Nine Yards star asked him to “shoot me up with a big one.”
Iwamasa administered the third injection while Perry was near his jacuzzi and then left to run errands. When he returned to Perry’s home in the Pacific Palisades, Iwamasa discovered Perry face-down in the pool.
The legal documents also revealed that Perry was in the throes of an out-of-control ketamine addiction in the days leading up to his death. The 17 Again star was receiving “approximately 6-8 shots a day” of the drug. Iwamasa also claimed to have found Perry unconscious two separate times in October 2023.
Iwamasa’s reveal comes after he was arrested in connection with Perry’s death on Thursday, August 15, along with Javeen Sangha, a woman known as the “Ketamine Queen,”Dr. Salvador Plasencia, Dr. Mark Chavez and Erik Fleming. Chavez, 54, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, and later admitted to diverting ketamine from his former clinic in order to sell to Plasencia. Alleged drug dealer Fleming, previously pleaded guilty on August 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Prosecutors later stated that Fleming admitted to distributing the ketamine that killed Perry. Plasencia supplied the syringe and had previously distributed ketamine to Perry and Iwamasa, according to the indictment obtained by In Touch.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram spoke during a press conference addressing the arrests on August 15.
“Mr. Perry sought treatment for depression and anxiety and went to a local clinic where he became addicted to intravenous ketamine,” Milgram said. “When clinic doctors refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous doctors who saw Perry as a way to make quick money.”
Imeh Akpanudosen / Getty Images
She continued, “Dr. Chavez and Dr. Placensia violated the oath they took to care for their patients. Instead of ‘do no harm,’ they did harm so that they could make more money. Without performing any medical evaluation or monitoring, they supplied Perry with large amounts of ketamine in exchange for large sums of money.”
According to Milgram, as Perry’s addiction “grew,” he began to attempt to find “faster and cheaper” ways to obtain the drug.
“Matthew Perry’s journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday. And it ended with street dealers who sold him ketamine in unmarked vials,” Milgram said.
While Perry’s death on October 28, 2023, was initially thought to be caused by drowning, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner eventually declared the cause of death as “the acute effects of ketamine.” Even though Perry was receiving ketamine infusion therapy at his time of death, the amount would not have been enough to cause a legal overdose.
“In this case, we are not talking about legitimate ketamine treatment,” Los Angeles police chief Dominic Chan stated at the press conference. “We are talking about two doctors who abused the trust they had, abused their licenses to put another person’s life at risk. Five defendants who, as I mentioned, knew that what they were doing was wrong … Nothing about what we see today was legitimate.”
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