"Ketamine Queen" of North Hollywood; Two Doctors Charged in Actor Matthew Perry Death

They call Jasveen Sangha, 41, the "Ketamine Queen," of North Hollywood and today she became the fifth person hit with federal charges in connection with the overdose death of Matthew Perry last October.

The Ketamine Queen was arrested Thursday morning alongside Santa Monica physician, Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 42, a.k.a. “Dr. P,” federal prosecutors say. The purported drug dealer and the doctor were charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Sangha also is charged with one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine, and five counts of distribution of ketamine.

“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people’s lives over greed. This case, along with our many other prosecutions of drug-dealers who cause death, send a clear message that we will hold drug-dealers accountable for the deaths they caused."

Sangha was held without bail on Thursday and Plasencia's bond was set at $100,000.

Others charged include Eric Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne who "admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry," prosecutors say. He told investigators that he bought 50 vials of ketamine from Sangha and dropped off half of them to Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, four days before the "Friends" star was found dead in his hot tub of an overdose.

Iwamasa, 59, of Toluca Lake, pleaded guilty on August 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. He admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including performing multiple injections on Perry on October 28, 2023 – the day Perry died, prosecutors say.

Another physician, Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, pleaded guilty to federal charges after he admitted to illegally providing the drug to the Santa Monica physician known as "Dr. P."

According to the superseding indictment unsealed Thursday, in late September 2023, "Plasencia learned that Perry, a successful actor whose history of drug addiction was well documented, was interested in obtaining ketamine." He then contacted the San Diego physician – who previously operated a ketamine clinic – to get the drug to sell to Perry.

In text messages to Chavez, Plasencia discussed how much to charge Perry for the ketamine, stating, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets [sic] find out.”

For the next two monrhs, Plasencia distributed ketamine to Perry and Iwamasa "outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose on at least seven occasions," prosecutors say. He even taught the live-in assistant how to inject the longtime struggling addict.

The doctors even wrote scripts in legitimate patients names without their knowledge, prosecutors say. As Perry spiraled into deeper drug use, his assistant conspired with Fleming and the Ketamine Queen in North Hollywood.

That same dealer had been accused of killing another man, Cody McLaury, in August 2019.

Sangha was aware of the danger of ketamine: In August 2019, Sangha sold ketamine to victim Cody McLaury in the hours before his overdose death. "After a family member of McLaury’s sent Sangha a text message saying that her ketamine had killed McLaury, Sangha conducted a Google search for “can ketamine be listed as a cause of death[?]” The superseding indictment alleges that Sangha nonetheless continued to sell ketamine from her stash house," prosecutors say.

After Perry was found dead at his Pacific Palisades home last October 28, Sangha texted Fleming, “Delete all our messages," prosecutors say.

After Perry’s death, federal agents and detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department executed search warrants at Sangha’s residence, where they found evidence of drug trafficking, including approximately 79 vials of ketamine, approximately 1.4 kilograms (3.1 pounds) of orange pills containing methamphetamine, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine, and prescription drugs that appeared to be fraudulently obtained, according to the indictment unsealed Thursday.

In February and March of 2024, in response to a legal request for production of documents in connection with the federal investigation, "Plasencia provided altered and falsified medical records, purporting to show that he had a legitimate “treatment plan” in place for Perry," prosecutors say, an obvious attempt to cover up his illegal interactions with the actor and the assistant.

If convicted of all charges, Sangha would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Plasencia would face up to 10 years in federal prison for each ketamine-related count and up to 20 years in federal prison for each records falsification count.

Iwamasa and Fleming will face up to 15 years and 25 years, respectively, when they are sentenced in their federal cases.

Chavez has been charged in an information pursuant to a plea agreement and will be arraigned on August 30. At sentencing, Chavez will face up to 10 years in federal prison.