Five people have been charged with the death of Matthew Perry. The Friends actor died last year from a ketamine overdose.
The police investigation into his death started in May, and it unveiled a broad underground criminal network of drug suppliers who distribute ketamine.
Perry died in October last year at the age of 54. He was found to have had a high concentration of ketamine in his blood at the time of death.
Of the five people arrested, two were doctors and a third was Perry’s personal assistant. A woman, Jasveen Sangha known as the “Ketamine Queen”, was also arrested on Aug 15.
“These defendants took advantage of Mr Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr Perry, but they did it anyway,” said US attorney Martin Estrada.
Perry was apparently using ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety. However, according to the post-mortem report, his last infusion was a week before his death, and the ketamine found in his system at the time of death was apparently not from the infusion.
In fact, the levels of ketamine found in him were as high as someone getting general anesthesia would have.
According to prosecutors, Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, collaborated with two doctors to provide the actor with $50,000 worth of ketamine in the days before he died.
Doctors were profiting from the actor’s ketamine habit, with one of the doctors, Salvador Plasencia, allegedly writing in a text message, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
The other doctor involved was Mark Chavez. Another co-defendant was named Erik Fleming.
The indictment states that Plasencia supplied ketamine to the actor “outside the usual course of professional practice and without legitimate medical purpose”. It also states that the doctor taught Iwamasa how to inject the substance into Perry’s system without proper safety procedures.
At present, Chavez, Fleming and Iwamasa have pleaded guilty.
Sangha and Plasencia were arraigned on Aug 15 in the Los Angeles court.
Perry had an almost lifelong battle with drugs and alcohol and had been in rehab multiple times. He spoke about his demons dealing with substance abuse at length in his memoir; Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.