Investigations into the death of Matthew Perry lead to charges against his assistant, two doctors and the “ketamine queen”

Matthew Perry's live-in assistant, two doctors and a woman nicknamed the “Ketamine Queen” are among five people charged and indicted in the investigation into the actor's death. The investigation uncovered a “widespread underground criminal network” responsible for the actor's death in 2023, a coalition of law enforcement agencies said at a press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday morning.

Jasveen Sangha, the 41-year-old woman prosecutors call the “ketamine queen,” and Salvador Plasencia, also known as “Dr. P,” who worked as a doctor at an urgent care center, are the main defendants in the case. Sangha is accused of maintaining a “stash house” in North Hollywood where thousands of dollars worth of illegal drugs were discovered when an arrest warrant was executed there in March, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The two are accused of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution of ketamine resulting in death, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, altering and falsifying records in connection with a federal investigation and other charges. Both were arrested and taken into custody Thursday morning, authorities said.

The Friends Star assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, along with Eric Fleming, who was described as a friend of Perry's and a street drug dealer, and a second doctor, Mark Chavez, accepted lesser charges at court appearances in August. Placentia worked with Dr. Chavez to obtain ketamine, which he would then give to Perry's live-in assistant, Iwamasa, who would then inject the ketamine into Perry. From September until his death on Oct. 28, the three worked to distribute about 20 vials of ketamine to Perry for $55,000, authorities said Thursday.

“These defendants exploited Mr. Perry's addiction problems to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said at a press conference Thursday. “They knew they were putting Mr. Perry in great danger, but they did it anyway. Ultimately, these defendants were more interested in making a profit.”

Estrada said Sangha sold about 50 vials of ketamine for about $11,000 in cash over a two-week period in October. She worked with defendant Eric Fleming and Perry's assistant to distribute the ketamine. When authorities searched the phones of all the defendants, they found text messages using encrypted apps, including Signal, detailing the network they had built that led to Perry's death.

The investigation, which began in May, involved investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Service. Investigators said they were tracking the actor's acquisition of the illegal drug, which has been used recreationally for decades but has recently been discovered to be generally useful in treating depression.

Perry's body was found by an assistant after he drowned in the hot tub of his swimming pool at his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28 after the fatal dose of ketamine caused him to develop cardiovascular hyperstimulation and respiratory depression, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office. The amount of ketamine found in his blood was about the amount that would be used in general anesthesia, the coroner said. The office cites the acute effects of the drug as the primary cause of his death, adding drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid use, as contributing factors.

Estrada said Thursday that Sangha sold the batch of ketamine that led to Perry's death. According to the indictment against her, officers searched her LA home and found what amounted to a “drug trafficking center.” The search turned up 80 vials of ketamine, 1,000 pills of methamphetamine and cocaine, and bottles of Xanax and other illegally obtained prescription drugs, he told reporters. A ledger with names and weights was also found in her home, Estrada added.

The DEA has also filed drug trafficking charges in connection with the death of Cody McClellan, a 33-year-old who died after being sold the deadly narcotic by Sangha in 2019. Despite this tragedy, however, she continued to distribute large quantities of various illegal drugs, Estrada noted at the press conference.

The defendants are accused of attempting to cover up their actions on October 28 after reading news of Perry's death. According to authorities, Sonya texted defendant Fleming, who coordinated drug sales with her and moved cash from Iwamasa to Sangha's “stash.” After Perry's death, Placentia allegedly falsified medical records and notes to legitimize his practices regarding the star.

Fleming, 54, pleaded guilty on August 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death, admitting in court documents that he distributed Sangha's fatal dose of ketamine as well as 50 vials of ketamine to Iwamasa.

Iwamasa, 59, pleaded guilty on August 7 to conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death. He admitted in court that he repeatedly injected Perry with the drug and had no medical training other than following instructions from Dr. Plasencia. On October 28, he administered several injections to Perry.

Chavez, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. In his guilty plea, he admits to selling ketamine to Plasencia, including some of it that came from a ketamine clinic he owned. He also made false statements to a ketamine wholesaler and used a fake prescription for ketamine dissolver under the name of a former patient.

After his death, friends confirmed that Perry was undergoing ketamine therapy, but the actor's last session took place a week and a half before his death, according to the medical examiner's report. No other drugs were found in Perry's body, and no paraphernalia was discovered in his home, officials said.

In his memoirs Friends, lovers and the big terrible thingPerry wrote about his ketamine therapy. “I often thought I was going to die during that hour,” he said. “Oh, I thought, that's what happens when you die. But I kept signing up for that shit because it was different, and anything different is good.”

He added: “Taking K is like being hit on the head with a giant shovel. But the hangover was severe and outweighed the shovel. Ketamine wasn't for me.”

Perry had spoken openly about his decades-long struggle with alcohol and opioid addiction, recalling in his 2022 memoir that at the height of his addiction, during his later years on the classic NBC sitcom, he took 55 Vicodin pills a day.

According to the coroner's report after Perry's death, a psychiatrist and an anesthesiologist treated Perry in October. The latter was also Perry's primary care physician. Neither was named in the indictment released on Thursday.