Five people have been charged in connection with "Friends" star Matthew Perry's death from "the acute effects of ketamine" last October.
During a Thursday news conference, Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, announced a shocking "number of charges against the five defendants."
Physician Salvador Plasencia, 42, and 41-year-old Jasveen Sangha, whom the DOJ's press release referred to as the "The Ketamine Queen" of North Hollywood, face 18 criminal counts for allegedly "distributing ketamine to Perry during the final weeks of the actor’s life."
Co-conspirators named in the case are Perry's live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, 59; Dr. Mark Chavez, 54 and Eric Fleming, 54, who is described as Perry's acquaintance.
Iwamasa and Fleming pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine; Fleming pleaded guilty to an additional charge of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Chavez "has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine," the Department of Justice said.
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Iwamasa faces up to 15 years in prison; Fleming's charges come with a maximum sentence of 25 years. Chavez, who is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 30, faces up to 10 years in prison.
USA TODAY has reached out to an attorney for Sangha for comment. Court records have not been updated with Plasencia's legal representative.
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"The defendants in this case knew what they were doing was wrong," Estrada said during Thursday's press conference.
Ketamine "is a drug that must be administered by medical professionals, and the patient must be monitored closely. That did not occur here," Estrada added, saying that after Perry's death, some of "these defendants tried to cover up what they did."
Estrada issued a warning to those who irresponsibly distribute and administer ketamine: "You are playing roulette with other people's lives, just like these five defendants here did to Mr. Perry."
In November 2022, Perry released his memoir "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," a book that traced his origins with fame and an honest account of his highly publicized battle with alcoholism and drug addiction. His struggle with substances spanned decades.
Investigators detail the alleged actions that led to Matthew Perry's death
In a statement Thursday, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram said the five defendants "played a key role in (Perry's) death by falsely prescribing, selling, or injecting the ketamine."
"Matthew Perry’s journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday, to street dealers who gave him ketamine in unmarked vials," Milgram said.
In a news release and a news conference Thursday, investigators laid out the moments that led to Perry's October death at his Los Angeles home.
According to a DOJ news release issued Thursday, Plasencia, the doctor, learned that Perry was interested in obtaining ketamine in September 2023.
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Later, Plasencia contacted Chavez, who used to operate a ketamine clinic, to obtain the anesthetic drug with the purpose to sell to Perry. According to investigators, Plasencia sent a text messages to Chavez that included, "I wonder how much this moron will pay" and "Lets find out."
According to investigators, on Oct. 28, 2023 — the day Perry died — his live-in assistant Iwamasa injected Perry with ketamine, as he did several times before, without proper medical licensure to complete the injections. The ketamine used in Perry's death was sold by Fleming and Sangha, officials allege, and administered with instructions and syringes provided by Plasencia.
Plasencia allegedly sold the drug to Iwamasa, although he was informed at least one week prior to Perry's death that his addiction to ketamine was "spiraling out of control." Later, Sangha allegedly texted Fleming to "delete all our messages" after news of Perry's death came out.
Later, the Los Angeles Police Department executed a search warrantat Sangha’s "stash house" and reported to have found evidence of drug trafficking, including approximately 79 vials of ketamine as well as several other drugs.
According to court records reviewed by USA TODAY, U.S. attorneys filed a complaint in March accusing Sangha of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. The federal case against her was updated with the first superseding indictment, which was unsealed Thursday and also named Plasencia, on Wednesday.
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Matthew Perry's cause of death
On Oct. 28, 2023, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to Perry's Pacific Palisades home at 4:07 p.m. and found "an adult male unconscious in a stand-alone jacuzzi." Responding officers pronounced him dead at 4:17 p.m.
"A rapid medical assessment, sadly, revealed the man was deceased prior to first responder arrival," Nicholas Prange, an LAFD spokesperson, told USA TODAY in a statement on Oct. 30.
In December, more than a month after Perry's death, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office released Perry's autopsy report, which was obtained by USA TODAY. His death was ruled an accident, with the cause being "the acute effects of ketamine." Contributing factors were drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine.
Buprenorphine is "an opioid-like drug used in the treatment of opioid addiction as well as acute and chronic pain," according to Perry's 29-page autopsy report. There were no signs of "fatal trauma and no foul play suspected," per the report.
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Ketamine levels on par with general anesthesia were in Matthew Perry's system
Ketamine is a "dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects" and "distorts the perception of sight and sound,"according to the DEA's website. The medical examiner said the amount of ketamine found in his system was as high as 3,540 nanograms per milliliter. "Levels for general anesthesia are typically in the 1,000-6,000 ng/ml ranges," the report notes.
There were no pills, drugs or medications found near the pool, according to his autopsy. Perry, who was reportedly sober for 19 months, didn't have alcohol or drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in his system.
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Perry was "reported to be receiving ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety," according to the report, and his last session was reportedly one and a half weeks before his death. But, the report notes, "the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less." The autopsy also said the method of intake was unclear.
"At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression," the report reads.
"Drowning contributes due to the likelihood of submersion into the pool as he lapsed into unconsciousness; coronary artery disease contributes due to exacerbation of ketamine induced myocardial effects of the heart."
