On Oct. 28, 2023, the 54-year-old Perry, most known for his role in the television sitcom "Friends," was found dead in the heated end of a pool at his Pacific Palisades home in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office ascribed his death to the acute effects of ketamine, a legal drug commonly used as an anesthetic and for treating depression. (Related: Ketamine seen as "fast-acting" for those who suffer from depression.)
Following Perry's death, law enforcement immediately opened an investigation. Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC verified through police sources that five arrests were made in connection to the investigation during an early morning operation on Thursday in Southern California.
Police said they "executed search warrants and seized computers, phones and other electronic equipment" to discover who provided Perry with the illegally prescribed ketamine that brought about his death. The doctors and dealers who were arrested allegedly helped arrange and deliver the ketamine to Perry.
Five people were arrested, including two physicians, Salvador Plasencia, 42, and Mark Chavez, 54. Two drug dealers were also arrested – Jasveen Sangha, 41, also known as the "Ketamine Queen," and Eric Fleming, 54. Perry's live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, was also arrested.
All five were arrested and indicted over allegations that they were part of a "broad underground criminal network."
Suspects exploited Perry's addiction problems
Prosecutors said the group exploited Perry's addiction problems, with one accusation claiming that the five defendants made tens of thousands of dollars by selling ketamine to the troubled star.
In one example, Plasencia allegedly collaborated with Chavez to charge Perry $2,000 for a vial of ketamine that was worth $12, after he became progressively desperate to get his hands on the drug, as stated in the filings.
Meanwhile, Perry's assistant has acknowledged being the one who supervised the actor's ketamine doses after being trained on how to give them by Plasencia. Court documents claim that Iwamasa injected Perry with 27 shots of ketamine in the five days leading up to his death.
Prosecutors allege that Sangha's distribution of the substance on Oct. 4, 2023, led to Perry's death. Photos issued by prosecutors showed that Sangha had thousands of pills and several kilograms of powder in her "drugs emporium" home. Police raided her home in March and retrieved the implicating evidence including text messages about selling "double strength" ketamine.
Sangha, who has dual American and British citizenship, is now indicted with a lot of drug offenses connected to providing the ketamine that killed Perry.
An affidavit filed in a Los Angeles federal court by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Tyler Abrego on March 20 depicted a raid the day before on Sangha's home.
"During the search, law enforcement seized significant quantities of illegal drugs, including approximately 1,978 grams of orange pills that field tested positive for methamphetamine, 79 bottles containing a clear liquid that field tested positive for ketamine, and various other suspect narcotics," Abrego stated in the criminal complaint. A handgun can also be seen in a photo of the seized drugs incorporated in Abrego's affidavit.
The complaint stated Sangha was a "large volume drug dealer" earlier identified by the DEA, Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Agents confiscated her cell phone which had "conversations related to selling pressed methamphetamine pills and ketamine." In a March text conversation about selling ketamine, she asked for a payment of "958,51" to her PayPal and said, "I think you'll like these but remember they're double strength." The DEA agent stated that videos retrieved from Sangha's phone showed her "cooking ketamine."
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