Matthew Perry was ‘spiraling out of control with his addiction’ before ketamine death: arrested doctor
Matthew Perry was allegedly deep in the throes of addiction when he was found dead on Oct. 28, 2023, despite previous claims he had been sober for years, law enforcement revealed on Thursday.
US Attorney Martin Estrada — who charged five people, including two doctors, with the “Friends” star’s death — said in a press conference that investigators discovered Perry had relapsed by last fall.
“Mr. Perry fell back into addiction,” he stated, “and these defendants took advantage to profit for themselves.”
Estrada added that, as a medical doctor, Dr. Salvador Plasencia knew “full well the danger of what he was doing” when he gave Perry more ketamine than he needed.
“In fact, on one occasion, he injected Mr. Perry with ketamine and he saw Mr. Perry freeze up and his blood pressure spike,” the US attorney explained.
“Despite that, he left additional vials of ketamine for defendant Iwamasa to administer to Mr. Perry.”
Kenny Iwamasa was Perry’s longtime personal assistant, who worked for the actor for more than 25 years, and administered the final dose of ketamine that ultimately killed Perry.
However, Plasencia — along with “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha, a street dealer who illegally sold the controlled substance — are the lead co-defendants in this case.
They were each charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Additionally, 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.
Sangha is also charged with one count of maintaining drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
Plasencia faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each ketamine-related count and up to 20 years in federal prison for each records falsification count, while Sangha faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment, per the Department of Justice.
They both pleaded not guilty on Thursday and their trials are set for October.
Erik Fleming, a drug “broker,” and Dr. Mark Chavez, Plasencia’s co-conspirator, were also charged, but struck plea deals along with Iwamasa.
Estrada said that evidence law enforcement obtained showed just how aware Plasencia was of his misdeeds. He allegedly once sent a shocking text referring to Perry that read, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
The attorney claimed Plasencia, who worked as an urgent care physician, told another patient in mid-October 2023 — days before Perry’s death — that the actor was “spiraling out of control with his addiction.”
“Nonetheless, defendant Plasencia continued to offer ketamine to Mr. Perry,” Estrada pointed out.
“Likewise, defendant Sangha knew what she was doing was harming defendants and also Mr. Perry. She took advantage of Mr. Perry by selling large amounts of ketamine to him in a two-week period in October.”
The US attorney claimed the “Ketamine Queen” sold the “Whole Nine Yards” star approximately 50 vials of ketamine for approximately $11,000 in cash.
He added, “As I mentioned, the defendants in this case knew what they were doing was wrong.”
Perry had been very open about his addiction struggles, which he battled for decades.
He wrote candidly about his experiences in his bestselling memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” including that he once nearly died after his colon burst due to heavy drug use.
Perry claimed his addiction kicked off after he got into a ski accident on the set of “Fools Rush In” in 1997.
“It wasn’t my intention to have a problem with it,” he told People in 2002. “But from the start I liked how it made me feel, and I wanted to get more. I was out of control and very unhealthy.”
Over the years, Perry spent about $9 million trying to get sober and even went to extremes such as allegedly supergluing his hands together in order to avoid getting drugs.
Ketamine therapy was perhaps one of those ways in which he tried to beat his addiction, as medical experts have said it is generally safe when administered by trained health professionals.
However, Perry got out of control again due to the alleged bad actors who took advantage of him. When he died, the “17 Again” star was found with 3.54 micrograms per milliliter of ketamine in his bloodstream, which is three times the normal amount.
His official cause of death was later revealed to be due to the “acute effects of ketamine,” with other contributing factors such as drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine, an opioid.
Perry once denounced the use of ketamine in his own memoir, writing that he often felt as if he were “dying” during infusions and that it made him disassociate.
“I would continually sign up for this s–t because it was something different, and anything different is good,” he explained.
“Taking K is like being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel. But the hangover was rough and outweighed the shovel.”
