Caption: Perry was found dead in his hot tub on October 28, with high levels of ketamine in his system.Article information
- Autor, Graeme Baker
- Author Title, BBC News, Washington
-
August 15, 2024
Five people have been arrested in connection with the death of Matthew Perry, star of the TV series Friends, who was found unconscious in his Los Angeles home last October, federal authorities announced Thursday.
Among those arrested are Jasveen Sangha, also known as the “Ketamine Queen,” and two doctors, Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, accused of working with others to deliver ketamine to Perry between September and October 2023.
The main defendants, Sangha and Plasencia, face charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution of the drug with a fatal outcome, possession with intent to distribute, and altering and falsifying records related to a federal investigation.
An autopsy determined Perry’s cause of death was “acute effects of ketamine,” a controlled substance that Perry, a recovering addict, was taking as part of supervised therapy.
Los Angeles police opened an investigation in May to determine why Perry, 54, had so much of the drug — an amount equivalent to a general anesthetic — in his system when he died.
Ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, is also used as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain.
Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said at a news conference Thursday that police had found what amounted to a “drug-selling empire” during their investigation.
Among the items found during searches of the detainees’ properties were 80 vials of ketamine, as well as cocaine and a series of “pills.”
The defendants used coded language to refer to the drugs, such as “Doctor Pepper” and “cans.”
Authorities said that between September and October 2023, Perry purchased 20 vials of ketamine for a total of $55,000.
According to the indictment, Sangha sold Perry 50 vials of ketamine for about $11,000, including the batch that ultimately caused his death.
Caption: Martin Estrada during Thursday’s press conference.
“Unscrupulous doctors”
“I wonder how much this idiot will pay,” Plasencia wrote in a text message, referring to the transaction with the actor, as can be read in the indictment.
That doctor also sent text messages claiming he wanted to be Perry’s “drug preacher.”
Authorities said that as a doctor, Plasencia knew the dangers of the drugs the actor was taking and even once saw Perry “freeze” and his blood pressure skyrocket while he administered ketamine.
Despite seeing this condition, the doctor left vials of ketamine for Perry’s personal assistant to administer.
Although they announced charges in Perry’s death, authorities said Thursday that the investigation is not yet complete.
DEA official Anne Milgram said the actor sought treatment for depression and anxiety.
He ended up turning to “unscrupulous doctors” who saw Perry as a quick way to make money and, without performing any medical evaluation or monitoring, gave him large amounts of ketamine, he added.
He was charged about $2,000 for a bottle that actually cost $12, Milgram said.
“They were more interested in profiting from Mr. Perry than in looking after his well-being,” said prosecutor Estrada.
Caption: The drug Perry purchased from the “ketamine queen” was what caused her death, authorities said Thursday.
What are the detainees accused of?
The charges listed by the Justice Department are as follows:
Jasveen Sangha, also known as “The Ketamine Queen”: one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, one count of maintaining a drug-related 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.
Salvador Plasencia: one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, seven counts of distribution of ketamine, and two counts of altering and falsifying documents or records related to the federal investigation.
Eric Fleming: Pleaded guilty 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 admitted to obtaining the ketamine from his source, Sangha, and distributing 50 vials of ketamine to Perry’s personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, with half of them delivered four days before Perry’s death.
Kenneth Iwamasa: Perry’s live-in personal assistant conspired with Sangha, Fleming, and Plasencia to illegally obtain ketamine and give it to Perry.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including administering multiple injections to the actor on the day of his death.
Mark Chavez: A doctor who agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He admitted in his plea agreement to selling ketamine to Plasencia, including ketamine he had diverted from his former ketamine clinic.
Intravenous Ketamine
People close to Perry told the coroner’s inquest that the actor was receiving intravenous ketamine infusion therapy before he died.
But his last session had taken place more than a week before his death.
The medical examiner said the ketamine in Perry’s system could not have come from infusion therapy because of the drug’s short half-life.
Caption: Perry’s addictions dated back to his glory days on the series Friends.
The levels of ketamine in his body were as high as the amount administered during general anesthesia, the coroner said.
How the actor, who had apparently not had a supervised infusion session for several days, obtained the drug became the subject of authorities’ investigation.
Drowning was also mentioned as a contributing factor to his death.
Other contributing factors included coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.
At the height of her fame, Perry struggled with addiction to painkillers and alcohol, and attended rehab clinics on multiple occasions. She detailed her struggle with substance abuse in her memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
In 2016, she told BBC Radio 2 that she couldn’t remember three years of filming Friends because of alcohol and drugs.
After several attempts at treatment, he wrote in his memoirs that he had been virtually sober since 2001, “except for about 60 or 70 setbacks.”
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