Five people were arrested, including two doctors and a notorious drug trafficker known as the “Queen of Ketamine.” Matthew Perry’s Death Police say the incident is the result of a ketamine overdose last year.
Federal and Los Angeles law enforcement officials announced the arrests at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
“The investigation uncovered an extensive underground criminal network that distributed large quantities of ketamine to Perry and others.”
Those arrested were Perry’s live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, Dr. Mark Chavez, Dr. Salvador Plascencia, Jasveen Sangha, and Eric Fleming.
Sangha and Plascencia are the principal suspects and are each charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Sangha, 41, is charged with one count of maintaining a drug facility, one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, one count of possession of ketamine with intent to sell and five counts of selling ketamine.
Plascencia, 42, is also charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of falsifying and altering documents or records in connection with a federal investigation.
If convicted on all charges, Sangha faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in federal prison.
Plascencia faces up to 10 years in federal prison for the ketamine-related charges and up to 20 years in federal prison for the falsifying records charge.
Sangha and Plascencia are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
Fleming, 54, pleaded guilty Aug. 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distributing ketamine resulting in death.
“Fleming admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry.” According to “He further admitted to obtaining ketamine from his source, Sanga, and distributing 50 bottles of ketamine to Perry’s housemate and secretary, Kenneth Iwamasa, half of which were delivered four days before Perry’s death,” according to the indictment filed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Iwamasa, 59, pleaded guilty on Aug. 7 to one count of conspiracy to sell ketamine causing death or injury.
Iwamasa is accused of conspiring with Sanga, Fleming and Plascencia to illegally obtain and sell ketamine to Perry. Iwamasa has admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without any medical training, including administering multiple injections to the “Friends” star on October 28, 2023, the day Perry died.
U.S. attorneys said Iwamasa and Fleming face up to 15 and 25 years in prison, respectively.
Chavez, 54, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Chavez admitted to selling Plascencia ketamine, including some that he had taken from a ketamine clinic that Chavez had previously attended.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California added that “Chavez also obtained additional ketamine to deliver to Plascencia by making false representations to a ketamine wholesaler and by submitting false prescriptions in the names of former patients without the patients’ consent.”
Chavez is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 30. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
“The defendants exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves.”
Authorities said Sangha was known as the “Queen of Ketamine” because she was a major distributor of the dangerous drug.
Police called Sangha’s North Hollywood home a “drug den” and said they found 80 vials of ketamine, thousands of pills, methamphetamine and cocaine in her home.
Authorities said Sangha also sold ketamine to a 33-year-old man who died of an overdose in August 2019.
Shortly after his overdose death, Sangha allegedly Googled the question, “Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?”[?]”
“The investigation uncovered an extensive underground criminal network that distributed large quantities of ketamine to Mr. Perry and others,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said at a press conference on Thursday. “The network included a live-in assistant, multiple middlemen, two doctors and a drug supplier known as the ‘Ketamine Queen.'”
“The Defendants exploited Mr. Perry’s drug addiction problem to enrich themselves,” Estrada continued. “They knew what they did was wrong. They knew their actions posed significant risks to Mr. Perry, but they did it anyway. Ultimately, the Defendants were more interested in profiting from Mr. Perry than they were in caring about his well-being.”
Estrada said the defendants sold approximately 20 vials of ketamine to Perry between September and October 2023 in exchange for $55,000 in cash.
“I wonder how much this idiot is gonna pay,” Plascencia, a licensed physician known as “Dr. P,” allegedly wrote in a September 2023 text message.
Perry, 54, died at his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28, 2023, when an assistant found him unresponsive and face-down in a hot tub.
In December, the Los Angeles County coroner said Perry’s cause of death was “acute effects of ketamine.”
“Trace amounts of ketamine were detected in his stomach contents,” the report continued. “He was reportedly receiving ketamine infusion therapy for the treatment of depression and anxiety.”
The coroner said causes of death included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid use disorder.
Perry struggled with addiction for many years.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get stories like this directly to your inbox. Register here!
