Five arrests have been made in connection with Friends star Matthew Perry’s death from the acute effects of ketamine in October of last year. According to The New York Times, Perry’s personal assistant, two doctors, and two other individuals have been indicted and charged.
Perry died on October 28, 2023 after being found floating face down in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. An autopsy conducted by the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office found that Perry’s death was caused primarily by ketamine. The autopsy also found that drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine—used to treat opioid disorder—contributed to Perry’s death. He was 54 years old.
According to documents filed in California federal court, prosecutors say that Perry’s personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, and an acquaintance collaborated with two doctors as well as a drug dealer to allegedly procure thousands of dollars worth of ketamine for the Friends star. On Wednesday, a grand jury filed charges against urgent care physician Salvador Plasencia, also known as “Dr. P.,” and Jasveen Sangha, whom prosecutors claimed was also known by the alias the “Ketamine Queen.” Both have been accused of supplying Perry with ketamine despite being well aware of his history with substance abuse. The charges include conspiracy to distribute ketamine; distribution of ketamine resulting in death; possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine; and altering and falsifying records related to a federal investigation.
Per the Times, an anonymous person with knowledge of the situation said that Perry’s assistant, Iwamasa; an acquaintance of Perry’s, Erik Fleming; and another doctor, Mark Chavez, were all charged separately, with counts including conspiracy to distribute ketamine, to which all three pleaded guilty.
According to the indictment, Sangha, “the Ketamine Queen,” maintained a stash house in North Hollywood, where she would store, package, and distribute narcotics, including ketamine and methamphetamine. According to court documents, law enforcement raided Sangha’s North Hollywood home this past March, seizing 79 bottles of liquid ketamine and nearly 2,000 methamphetamine pills. Earlier this year, she was charged with possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. She pleaded not guilty.
Dr. Plasencia, a.k.a “Dr. P,” built a personal brand as “The Health MD,” pitching himself online as a longevity coach, medical doctor, entrepreneur, and fitness guru. Per court documents, Plasencia allegedly conspired with his mentor, Dr. Chavez, about purchasing ketamine with the intent to sell to Perry, referred to in the court documents as “victim M.P.” Prosecutors allege that Dr. Plasencia texted Dr. Chavez to ask how much they should charge Perry, writing, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets find out.”
In the weeks leading up to his death, Perry had been on ketamine infusion therapy. But the autopsy report determined that the ketamine found in his system the night of his death could not have originated with his last recorded therapy session, which occurred about a week and a half before he died. In his indictment, Dr. Plasencia was accused of lying to officials about Perry’s ketamine treatment, allegedly providing officials with “a falsified document purportedly showing the medical treatment plan for Victim M.P.” which claimed that Perry was being given a maximum dose of 60 milligrams over 24 hours. Per the indictment, Plasencia knowingly “injected Victim M.P. with ketamine dosages far in excess of 60 milligrams.”
Per the indictment, Dr. Plasencia allegedly sold “thousands of dollars” worth of ketamine to Perry’s assistant, Iwasama, and personally injected the drug into Perry at his residence in Los Angeles and inside a vehicle in a public parking lot in Long Beach, California. According to court documents, during one of these sessions, a particularly large dose of ketamine caused Perry to “freeze up” involuntarily, leading Dr. Plasencia to caution against similarly-sized injections going forward. Fleming allegedly purchased 25 vials of ketamine on October 24 from Sangha and gave them to Iwamasa. Per court documents, Iwamasa allegedly injected Perry with at least 27 shots of ketamine over five days, leading to Perry’s death on October 28.
According to the court documents, the day Perry died, Sangha updated her Signal messaging app to automatically delete her messages with Fleming, and allegedly instructed Fleming to “delete all our messages.” Per those same documents, two days after Perry’s death, Fleming sent the following text to Sangha: “Please call . . . Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Victim M.P.]. Only his Assistant. So the Assistant was the enabler. Also they are doing a 3 month tox screening … Does K stay in your system or is it immediately flushed out[?]”
Perry had a well-documented history with drug addiction and substance abuse. In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry opened up about his struggle, revealing that his disease led him to 15 rehab stays, 65 detox stints, and 14 surgeries due to opioid abuse. “I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober,” he told The New York Times.
