Matthew Perry case: ‘Ketamine Queen’ of LA among five people charged over Friends star’s overdose death

Detectives probing the overdose death of Friends actor Matthew Perry have charged five people – including his assistant, two doctors and an alleged drug dealer nicknamed “Ketamine Queen”.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles released astonishing details about a “broad underground criminal network” that allegedly “took advantage of Mr Perry’s addiction issues” to sell him ketamine for tens of thousands of dollars.

Text and emails between the group were said to include one callous message that mockingly said: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”

Perry, 54, died in October last year due to a ketamine overdose after, it is claimed, he received injections of the drug from his live-in personal assistant.

It was that assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who found Perry unresponsive in his hot tub in the garden of his Los Angeles home.

Iwamasa, 59, allegedly injected Perry with ketamine more than 20 times in the four days leading up to his death.

He and two other defendants have admitted charges related to Perry’s death and a fourth has agreed to plead guilty.

US Attorney Martin Estrada said those charged include Jasveen Sangha, 41, known as the “Ketamine Queen” of North Hollywood.

Officers who raided her home allegedly discovered a “drugs emporium” – including approximately 79 vials of ketamine, thousands of pills containing methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs plus drug paraphernalia.

Prosecutors uncovered a text message sent between defendants that included photographs of phials containing liquid drugs.

The message said: “This is what they look like. She sells them all day. She won’t go less than 250. If he likes it, which I’m confident he will, he has to pay me back.”

Photographs of Sangha show her at exclusive events in Beverly Hills wearing designer clothes while her lavish lifestyle included exotic trips to destinations including Mexico and Japan.

Police revealed pictures of a huge drugs stash along with wads of $100 bills, which were allegedly found at her home.

The charged doctors are Salvador Plasencia, 42, and Mark Chavez, 54, who operated a ketamine clinic.

Prosecutors said Plasencia sold around £43,000 worth of the drug to Iwamasa in the weeks leading up to Perry’s death.

The doctors are accused alongside drug dealer Eric Fleming, 54.

Prosecutors claim that Sangha’s distribution of the substance on October 4, 2023 led to Perry’s death 24 days later.

The group allegedly made tens of thousands of dollars by selling the narcotic to the troubled star.

In one instance, they charged Perry $US2000 for a vial of ketamine that cost $12 after he became increasingly desperate to get his hands on the drug, according to court documents.

Texts between the defendants allegedly show them conspiring to supply Perry – with Plasencia insisting he wants to be the actor’s “go to” for the drug.

Prosecutors state that Plasencia sent one message to Chavez asking, “I wonder how much this moron will pay”.

Mr Estrada claimed the defendants tried to cover up their involvement in supplying Perry ketamine, a powerful anaesthetic that is sometimes used to treat chronic pain and depression.

A text message, sent by one defendant after news broke of Perry’s death, allegedly instructed another defendant to “delete all our messages”.

Sangha and Plasencia have been charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. ‘

Plasencia is charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents or records related to the federal investigation.

The charges state that Sangha “knew that the unsupervised and improper use of ketamine can be deadly”.

The other three defendants were charged separately and have pleaded guilty.

Fleming, from Hawthorne, California, admitted to obtaining the drug from Sangha and distributing it to Iwamasa, who confessed to administering it to the star, despite having had no medical training.

Meanwhile in his plea agreement, San Diego doctor Chavez admitted to diverting supplies from his clinic to Plasencia by filling out fake prescriptions.

Mr Estrada said: “These defendants took advantage of Mr Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong.

“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr Perry than caring for his well-being.”

The charges can carry jail sentences ranging from ten years up to 25 years.

Perry’s autopsy found that the amount of ketamine in his blood was in the range used for general anaesthetic during surgery.

The drug was listed as the primary cause of death, which was ruled an accident with no foul play suspected.

Drowning and other medical issues were contributing factors, the coroner stated.

Perry had years of struggles with addiction dating back to his time on the sitcom Friends, in which he played Chandler Bing. It ran for a decade from 1994.