Drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen” is charged in connection with the overdose death of actor Matthew Perry

A California doctor and a drug dealer known as the “ketamine queen” have been charged in connection with the accidental overdose death of actor Matthew Perry, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Perry, 54, was found facedown in the heated end of a pool at his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County coroner's office attributed his death to the acute effects of ketamine, an anesthetic with psychedelic properties.

According to an 18-count indictment, Jasveen Sangha, a North Hollywood resident who sold ketamine and other drugs, supplied Perry's assistant with the ketamine that ultimately led to the actor's death. The assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, injected Perry with the drug the day he died, according to the indictment. The syringe was provided by Salvador Plasencia, a doctor who also distributed ketamine to Perry and his assistant in the past, the indictment says.

The indictment names several co-conspirators, including Iwamasa, but only Sangha and Plasencia were charged.

A lawyer for Sangha did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She was arrested in March in connection with another federal drug case but was released from custody after posting $100,000 bail, court records show.

Plasencia's attorney was not listed in court records.

The family of Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, who is Perry's stepfather, said in a statement they welcomed the news of the police action.

“We are and still are heartbroken by Matthew's death, but it has helped us to know that law enforcement took his case very seriously,” the family said. “We look forward to justice taking its course.”

Los Angeles police said in May they were working with federal authorities to determine the source of the ketamine Perry used.

Ketamine has been a popular party drug for decades. In recent years, it has shown promise as an alternative treatment for depression. More and more clinics are offering it as an infusion or injection for a variety of mental health problems.

Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety, but his last session occurred more than a week before his death. The medical examiner determined that the ketamine in Perry's body “could not have come from that infusion therapy” because it has a short half-life.

The level of ketamine in his body was high – according to the coroner, it was equivalent to the amount used in general anesthesia during surgery.

The medical examiner ultimately concluded that his death was accidental. Contributing factors included drowning, coronary heart disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid addiction.

Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing in “Friends,” spoke openly about his long-running struggle with opioid addiction and alcoholism, which he documented in his 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.” But at the time of his death, he had been clean for 19 months, according to the coroner's report.

It is not uncommon for the police to investigate and, in some cases, bring charges against the people who supplied the drugs responsible for the death of a prominent person.

After Michael Jackson's death in 2009, his private physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was found guilty of manslaughter for administering a lethal dose of powerful drugs to the singer. Recently, federal prosecutors in New York filed charges against four men who supplied actor Michael K. Williams with the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed him in 2021.