Matthew Perry, who played Chandler on Friends, started buying drugs from a man who was known as the “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles” before he died.
Perry died of an accidental overdose and was found dead in his Los Angeles home hot tub on October 28, 2023. Five people were arrested on Thursday in connection with the death.
Perry, 54, went to Jasveen Sangha, who is accused of selling drugs, when the ketamine he was getting from doctors became too expensive.
On 18 counts, the indictment says that Sangha, who lives in North Hollywood, sold ketamine and other drugs and gave Perry’s assistant the dose that killed him.
In the afternoon of Thursday, the U.S. Sun saw several TV news trucks arrive at Sangha’s home in North Hollywood.
Property records show that she lives in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,387-square-foot unit that was last listed for $3,195 a month in 2019.
What we already know…
On October 28, 2023, Matthew Perry, a famous actor from Friends, was found dead after taking too many drugs. Five people were charged with his death.
The federal indictment named doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez as suspects, as well as Kenneth Iwamasa, who lived with Perry, Mark Fleming, a broker, and Jasveen Sangha, who was accused of selling drugs.
Investigators say Matthew Perry got hooked on drugs again in the fall of 2023.
Perry got about 70 vials of ketamine from Plasencia, Chavez, and Sangha between September and October 2023.
In order to “enrich themselves,” the five suspects planned to deliver the drugs to Perry.
On Thursday, Plasencia and Sangha were arrested, and Fleming agreed to plead guilty.
The clinic that Dr. Salvador Plasencia runs, Malibu Canyon Urgent Care, had a sign up on Thursday that said, “Clinic will be closed for today.”
According to court records, Sangha was first arrested in March for a different federal drug case. He was released from jail after posting a $100,000 bond, though.
Perry’s death was initially thought to have been caused by an accidental overdose. However, in May, the Los Angeles Police Department said it would be working with federal authorities to look into where Perry got the ketamine.
The arrests have been good news for Perry’s family.
“We were and still are heartbroken by Matthew’s death, but it has helped to know law enforcement has taken his case very seriously,” the family said in a post. “We look forward to justice taking its course.”
At a press conference on Thursday, US attorney Martin Estrada said that an investigation by the Department of Justice had found a “broad underground criminal network” that included Perry’s assistant and doctors and worked together to “take advantage of the sitcom star’s addictions by selling him ketamine.”
One of the defendants made fun of Perry and the ketamine they were selling him in a text message that said, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
The indictment says that Perry’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa gave the actor ketamine on the day he died.
The doctor Salvador Plasencia gave them the syringe. He had given the drug to Perry and Iwamasa before.
There are also charges against Dr. Mark Chavez for giving ketamine to Plasencia.
In addition to running a ketamine clinic, Chavez also lied on prescriptions as a doctor.
He got the drug from his old clinic without permission and made a fake prescription with a patient’s name on it.
Eric Fleming is the last person charged in the case. He gave Perry’s assistant the 50 vials of ketamine from Sangha.
“Dr. Salvador Plasencia runs Malibu Canyon Urgent Care. On Thursday, there was a sign there that said, “Clinic will be closed for today.”
One nearby business owner said he was “shocked” to learn that he was involved in the investigation into Matthew Perry’s death. He had read about the tragedy but didn’t know that Dr. Plasencia had been arrested.
He said, “They helped me a few times.” This is strange because he was always friendly. Ten days ago, I went there with my daughter and he was there. There was no sign of anything being wrong.
“GET RID OF ALL OUR MESSSAGES”
Plasencia is said to have found out that Perry wanted to get the drug in September 2023.
Then Plasencia called Chevaz, and the two of them made plans to sell the drug to Perry.
Without a valid medical reason, the doctors gave ketamine to Iwamasa, Perry’s assistant.
Iwamasa learned how to inject ketamine from Plasencia, but he kept doing it without any safety gear.
They used the example of Iwamasa injecting Perry in a Long Beach parking lot as proof.
In October 2023, Fleming and Sangha were added to the plan.
Fleming set up the drug deals with Sangha and was the go-between for the two.
A text message from Fleming to Iwamasa on October 24 said that the ketamine was “on its way to our girl,” which was Sangha.
These two people sold Iwamasa 25 vials of ketamine.
After four days, Iwamasa gave Perry several ketamine injections, which killed him in the end.
When the news came out that Perry had died, Sangha texted Fleming, “Delete all our messages.”
CHARGES MADE
Sangha and Plascencia were arrested on Thursday and charged with giving Perry ketamine in the last few weeks of his life.
They were both arrested and are being charged with selling ketamine.
“People who sell dangerous drugs are risking other people’s lives out of greed,” Estrada said.
We will hold drug dealers responsible for the deaths they cause. This case and the many others we have brought against drug dealers who kill send a clear message.
Each of Fleming, Iwamasa, and Chavez is charged with a different crime in connection with Perry’s death.
He is being charged with giving Iwamasa 50 vials of ketamine, half of which were given to him right before he died.
On August 7, Iwamasa admitted to planning to sell ketamine that would kill people.
Chavez admitted to making false claims to a wholesale distributor and pleaded guilty to planning to sell ketamine.
THE REIGN OF TERROR BY SANGHA
The police used what they learned about Perry’s case to link Sangha to another death.
In August 2019, Sangha is said to have sold ketamine to Cody McLaury just hours before he died of an overdose.
It was found by the Justice Department that one of McLaury’s family members then texted Sangha and said she killed him.
“Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?” Sangha is said to have searched for on Google after getting the text.