Getty Matthew Perry.
Multiple people have been charged in connection with the death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry, authorities announced in an August 15 news conference.
In the press conference, authorities said that Perry was exploited when he should have been given help. At that press conference, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said that five people were charged, including Perry’s assistant and two doctors. “These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said in the news conference.
In an earlier press release on August 15, the U.S. Department of Justice wrote, “A licensed physician and an alleged San Fernando Valley drug dealer were arrested today in connection with the death of actor Matthew Perry, who suffered a fatal ketamine overdose in October 2023.” Their names were given in the press release as: “Jasveen Sangha, 41, a.k.a. ‘The Ketamine Queen,’ of North Hollywood; and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 42, a.k.a. ‘Dr. P,’ of Santa Monica.” Authorities found a drug-selling “emporium” in Sangha’s house, they said in the press conference.
The three other defendants were listed in the press release as:
Eric Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne, who pleaded guilty on August 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Fleming admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry. He further admitted to obtaining the ketamine from his source, Sangha, and to distributing 50 vials of ketamine to Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa – half of them four days before Perry’s death.
Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, of Toluca Lake, who conspired with Sangha, Fleming, and Plasencia to illegally obtain ketamine and distribute it to Perry. Iwamasa, who pleaded guilty on August 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including performing multiple injections on Perry on October 28, 2023 – the day Perry died.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, a physician who has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Chavez admitted in his plea agreement to selling ketamine to Plasencia, including ketamine that he had diverted from his former ketamine clinic. Chavez also obtained additional ketamine to transfer to Plasencia by making false representations to a wholesale ketamine distributor and by submitting a fraudulent prescription in the name of a former patient without that patient’s knowledge or consent.
Perry died from “the acute effects of ketamine” in an accidental death, according to a press release from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Law enforcement executed “search warrants and seized computers, phones, and other electronic equipment to determine who supplied Perry with the ketamine that caused him to lose consciousness,” TMZ reported. Those in custody included a doctor and “drug dealers,” TMZ reported before authorities held the news conference.
The Investigation Focused on Where Matthew Perry Got the Ketamine, Reports Say
GettyMatthew Perry.
In May, TMZ first reported that authorities were still investigating Perry’s death. TMZ reported then that there was “an ongoing investigation into where Matthew got the ketamine that ended up playing a part in his death — and the main questions are who provided the drug and under what circumstances.”
TMZ did not report names but reported at the time that “investigators have approached and spoken to people who are known to have a history of drug use or abuse.”
In its press release, the medical examiner’s office revealed that it considered Perry’s death an accident that included drowning and coronary artery disease.
“The County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner (DME) determined the cause of death for 54-year-old actor Matthew Langford Perry as the acute effects of ketamine. Contributing factors in Mr. Perry’s death include drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder). The manner of death is an accident,” the report for said.
“On October 28 at approximately 1600 hours, Mr. Perry was found unresponsive in the pool at his residence. After 911 was called, paramedics responded to the scene, and death was pronounced,” the Medical Examiner’s Office wrote. “DME responded, conducted a scene investigation, and then transported Mr. Perry’s body to the DME’s Forensic Science Center for examination.”
TMZ reported that Perry “had been getting ketamine infusion therapy for anxiety and depression” but did not have a prescription for the ketamine in his system when he died, which was at a level “that is used for general anesthesia in surgery.”
Federal Authorities Previously Charged 3 Men in the Unrelated Death of Singer Mac Miller
14 years ago today, Mac Miller dropped his mixtape “K.I.D.S.”
There is precedent for federal authorities getting involved in a celebrity’s overdose death. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a press release that they had indicted three men in connection with the death of hip-hop artist Mac Miller.
“Three men were named today in a federal grand jury indictment that alleges they distributed narcotics, including counterfeit pharmaceutical pills containing fentanyl that resulted in the overdose death of hip-hop artist Mac Miller,” that release said.
Ryan Reavis was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison after being convicted of supplying fentanyl-laced pills to Miller, according to CBS News.
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