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Doctor and four others charged with ketamine death

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Five people have been charged in connection with the death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry from “the acute effects of ketamine” last October.

During a press conference on Thursday, Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, announced a shocking “number of charges against the five defendants.”

Doctor Salvador Plasencia, 42, and Jasveen Sangha, 41, who was dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” of North Hollywood in the Justice Department's press release, face 18 counts for allegedly “distributing ketamine during the final weeks of Perry's life.”

Co-conspirators in the case include Perry's assistant Kenneth Iwamasa (59), who lives with him, as well as Dr. Mark Chavez (54) and Erik Fleming (54), who is described as an acquaintance of Perry.

Iwamasa and Fleming pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine; Fleming also pleaded guilty to distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Chavez “has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine,” the Justice Department said.

Iwamasa faces up to 15 years in prison; Fleming's charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years. Chavez, who is scheduled to be arraigned on August 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 a medical professional, and the patient must be closely monitored. That did not happen here,” Estrada added, saying that after Perry's death, some “of these defendants tried to cover up their actions.”

Estrada warned those who distribute and administer ketamine irresponsibly: “You are playing roulette with other people's lives, just like these five defendants here did with Mr. Perry.”

In November 2022, Perry released his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, a book that traces his beginnings with fame and gives an honest account of his much-publicized battle with alcoholism and drug addiction. His struggle with substances spanned decades.

Investigators describe the alleged actions that led to the death of Matthew Perry

In a statement Thursday, Anne Milgram, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the five defendants “played a key role in (Perry's) death by improperly prescribing, selling or injecting the ketamine.”

“Matthew Perry's journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their positions of trust because they only saw him as a payday, and with street dealers who administered ketamine to him in unmarked vials,” Milgram said.

In a press release and a press conference on Thursday, investigators described the moments leading up to Perry's death in October at his Los Angeles home.

According to a Justice Department press release issued Thursday, doctor Plasencia learned in September 2023 that Perry was interested in obtaining ketamine.

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Plasencia later contacted Chavez, who formerly ran a ketamine clinic, to obtain the anesthetic he planned to sell to Perry. According to investigators, Plasencia sent a text message to Chavez saying, “I wonder how much this idiot is going to pay” and “Let's find out.”

According to investigators, on October 28, 2023 – the day Perry died – his live-in assistant, Iwamasa, injected him with ketamine, as he had done several times before, without the required medical clearance for the injections. The ketamine used in Perry's death was sold by Fleming and Sangha, officials allege, and administered with instructions and syringes from Plasencia.

Plasencia allegedly sold the drug to Iwamasa despite being informed at least a week before Perry's death that his ketamine addiction was “getting out of control.” Sangha later allegedly sent Fleming a text message telling him to “delete all our messages” after news of Perry's death broke.

Los Angeles police later executed a search warrant on Sangha's “hideout” and said they found evidence of drug trafficking, including approximately 79 vials of ketamine and several other drugs.

According to court documents seen by USA TODAY, U.S. prosecutors filed a complaint against Sangha in March, charging her with possession of methamphetamine with the intent to resell. The federal case against her was updated Wednesday with the first indictment, unsealed Thursday, which also names Plasencia.

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Cause of death of Matthew Perry

On October 28, 2023, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to Perry's home in Pacific Palisades at 4:07 p.m. and found “an adult male unconscious in a freestanding hot tub.” Arriving officers pronounced him dead at 4:17 p.m.

“A quick medical examination unfortunately determined that the man had died prior to emergency responders' arrival,” Nicholas Prange, an LAFD spokesman, said in a statement to USA TODAY 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 of death being “the acute effects of ketamine.” Contributing factors included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine.

Buprenorphine is “an opioid-like medication used to treat opioid addiction and acute and chronic pain,” Perry's 29-page autopsy report states. There were no signs of “fatal trauma and there is no suspicion of foul play,” the report says.

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In Matthew Perry’s body, ketamine levels were at the level of general anesthesia

Ketamine is a “dissociative anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects” and “distorts the perception of sight and sound,” the DEA website states. The medical examiner said the amount of ketamine found in his system was up to 3,540 nanograms per milliliter. “Levels for general anesthesia are usually in the range of 1,000 to 6,000 ng/ml,” the report said.

According to his autopsy, no pills, drugs or medications were found near the pool. Perry, who was reportedly sober for 19 months, had no alcohol or drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin or fentanyl in his system.

The autopsy report: Cause of death of Matthew Perry announced

Perry was reportedly “receiving ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety,” the report says, and his last session was reported to have taken place a week and a half before his death. However, the report says, “the ketamine in his system at the time of his death could not have come from this infusion therapy because the half-life of ketamine is 3 to 4 hours or less.” The autopsy also revealed that the method of administration was unclear.

“Given the high concentrations of ketamine found in his post-mortem blood samples, the most fatal consequences would be both hyperstimulation of the cardiovascular system and respiratory depression,” the report said.

“Drowning is a contributing factor as he probably entered the pool when he lost consciousness; coronary artery disease is a contributing factor as it exacerbates the myocardial effects on the heart induced by ketamine.”

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