Following the drug-related death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office has charged five people. The investigation has uncovered “a widespread underground criminal network responsible for distributing large quantities of ketamine to Mr. Perry and others,” said District Attorney Martin Estrada at a press conference.
Prosecutor: “Ketamine Queen” exploited Perry’s addiction problems
This network included an assistant to Perry, various middlemen, two doctors and a major drug source known as the “Ketamine Queen,” Estrada continued. “The defendants exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction problems to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew that they were putting Mr. Perry in great danger – but they did it anyway.”
US media had previously reported that people had been arrested in connection with Perry’s death. The successful manhunt comes more than nine months after Perry’s death. The police had focused their work on how the 54-year-old had obtained the anesthetic ketamine, which he had an unusually high amount of in his blood at the time of his death.
Ketamine overdose
Perry was found in a hot tub in his Los Angeles home last October. The actor had previously spoken publicly about his struggle with addiction, including to alcohol and drugs, and also wrote about it in his autobiography “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” which was published last year.
An investigation by the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office in December found that Perry had died from the effects of ketamine. Other factors included drowning, heart disease and the effects of a drug used to treat opioid addiction, it said.
According to media reports, Perry had undergone ketamine therapy for depression and anxiety. However, the last session before his death had been a week and a half ago, which is why the ketamine in his body at the time of death could not have come from this infusion therapy, according to the coroner’s office.
