5 people charged in Matthew Perry's death, including 'Friends' actor's doctor, assistant

Five people have been charged in connection to "Friends" star Matthew Perry's death from "the acute effects of ketamine" last October.

During a Thursday press conference, Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, announced a shocking "number of charges against the five defendants," including a doctor, 42-year-old Salvador Plasencia, and Perry's live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, 59.

"The defendants in this case knew what they were doing was wrong," Estrada said.

"It is a drug that must be administered by medical professionals, and the patient must be monitored closely. That did not occur here," Estrada added during the conference, saying that after Perry's death, "these defendants tried to cover up what they did."

Estrada issued a warning for those who are engaging with similar actions as the allegations leveled: "You are playing roulette with other people's lives, just like these five defendants here did to Mr. Perry."

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The lead defendants in the case are Plasencia and "The Ketamine Queen" of North Hollywood, Jasveen Sangha, 41, as well as an additional trio of co-conspirators including Iwamasa, Eric Fleming, 54, and another doctor, Mark Chavez, 54.

According to a Department of Justice press release, in September, Plasencia learned that Perry was interested in getting ketamine.

In November 2022, nearly a year earlier, Perry released his memoir "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," a book that traced his origins with fame and an honest account of his highly publicized battle with alcoholism and drug addiction. His struggle with substances spanned decades.

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Later, Plasencia contacted Chavez, who used to operate a ketamine clinic, to obtain the anesthetic drug with the purpose to sell to Perry. According to investigators, Plasencia sent a text messages to Chavez that included, "I wonder how much this moron will pay" and "Lets (sic) find out."

Investigators detail the alleged actions that led to Matthew Perry's death

In a press release and a press conference Thursday, investigators laid out the moments that led to Perry's October death at his Los Angeles home.

They say that on Oct. 28, 2023, the day that Perry died, his live-in assistant Iwamasa injected Perry with ketamine, as he did several times before, without proper medical licensure to complete the injections. The ketamine used in Perry's death was done with instructions and syringes provided by Plasencia with ketamine sold by Fleming and Sangha, officials allege.

Plasencia allegedly sold the drug to Iwamasa although he was informed at least one week prior to Perry's death that his addiction to ketamine was "spiraling out of control." Later, Sangha texted Fleming to "delete all our messages." Later, the Los Angeles Police Department executed a search warrant at Sangha’s "stash house" and say they found evidence of drug trafficking, including approximately 79 vials of ketamine as well as several other drugs.

In May, the LAPD confirmed a joint investigation in an emailed statement to USA TODAY.

"Based on the Medical Examiner's findings, the Los Angeles Police Department, with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Postal Inspection Service, has continued its investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Perry's death," the statement read.

In December, more than a month after Perry's death, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office released Perry's autopsy report, which was obtained by USA TODAY. His death was ruled an accident, with the cause being "the acute effects of ketamine." Contributing factors were drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine.

Buprenorphine is "an opioid-like drug used in the treatment of opioid addiction as well as acute and chronic pain," according to Perry's 29-page autopsy report. There were no signs of "fatal trauma and no foul play suspected," per the report.

Matthew Perry death arrests made: Watch press conference

Ketamine levels on par with general anesthesia were in Matthew Perry's system

Ketamine is a "dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects" and "distorts the perception of sight and sound," according to the DEA's website. The medical examiner said the amount of ketamine found in his system was as high as 3,540 nanograms per milliliter. "Levels for general anesthesia are typically in the 1,000-6,000 ng/ml ranges," the report notes.

There were no pills, drugs or medications found near the pool, according to his autopsy. Perry, who was reportedly sober for 19 months, didn't have alcohol or drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in his system.

The autopsy report:Matthew Perry's cause of death revealed

Perry was "reported to be receiving ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety," according to the report, and his last session was reportedly one and a half weeks before his death. But, the report notes, "the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less." The autopsy also said the method of intake was unclear.

"At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression," the report reads.

"Drowning contributes due to the likelihood of submersion into the pool as he lapsed into unconsciousness; coronary artery disease contributes due to exacerbation of ketamine induced myocardial effects of the heart."

On Oct. 28, 2023, the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed to USA TODAY that firefighters responded to Perry's Pacific Palisades home at 4:07 p.m. that day and found "an adult male unconscious in a stand-alone jacuzzi." Responding officers pronounced him dead at 4:17 p.m.

"A rapid medical assessment, sadly, revealed the man was deceased prior to first responder arrival," Nicholas Prange, an LAFD spokesperson, told USA TODAY in a statement on Oct. 30.