Credit: Inside the MagicTen months ago, Friends star Matthew Perry — who played Chandler Bing on the hit show — was discovered unconscious in the hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home.
His longtime live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, was the one who found Mr. Perry and immediately called 9-1-1. Emergency services responded to the home quickly and performed life-saving measures on the beloved actor. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do, and Mr. Perry was pronounced dead. He was only 54 years old.
Two months after Perry’s death, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner announced that he had died from the “acute effects” of a large amount of ketamine in his system. There were also several other contributing factors to his death — drowning, coronary artery disease, and the use of Buprenorphine, a drug used to help treat opioid addiction.
Matthew Perry’s Death Launches Major Investigation
The Mr. Sunshine actor passed away in October 2023, and in May 2024, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that they were launching a joint investigation into Mr. Perry’s death. Their goal was to discover how Perry had gotten his hands on such a large amount of ketamine.
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Now, prior to his death, Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy. Ketamine is known as a “dissociative anesthetic”, meaning it is a painkiller that also has hallucinogenic properties. Licensed doctors will give patients small doses of ketamine and then talk to them while the drug makes its way through their system. It is relatively new but has shown promise in helping treat people with trauma.
However, Perry had an extremely high amount of ketamine in his system at the time of his death. That led investigators to believe that Mr. Perry was getting his hands on ketamine through illegal channels. The LAPD and the DEA were going to find out who was selling the ketamine to the actor and who they were getting it from.
Was There a Darker Motive, Perry’s Ex Doubts Ketamine Story?
Over the years, Matthew Perry was very open about his addiction struggles. He admitted that he was a full-blown alcoholic when he was just 14 years old. He then became addicted to painkillers after a jet ski accident when he was 28. For decades, he struggled, entering rehab multiple times, but always falling back into old habits.
In his book, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, Mr. Perry said that he was taking as many as 55 Vicodin pills per day. Then, in 2000, his health took a serious turn, and he was admitted to the hospital for alcohol-induced pancreatitis.
Despite his extreme reliance on heavy drugs for a long time, one of Perry’s ex-girlfriends and good friend doesn’t believe that he was addicted to something like ketamine. Mainly because of the way he would have to take it.
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In a new interview with The Mirror US, a woman named Kayti said that Perry was absolutely terrified of needles, which is why she doesn’t believe that he would ever become addicted to ketamine.
According to Kayti, she was with Perry through multiple relapses and always worried about him. She said that she told him drugs would kill him, but he told her that only happens when you start to inject the drugs, and he would never do something like that.
“This is the weird thing to me… Matthew always, always told me that he would never, ever, use needles or inject anything into his body. He didn’t even want to have tattoos,” she says.
“I would often see him very high and using lots of different drugs. I would always get so scared, and tell him that he had to stop mixing all this stuff, saying ‘you’re gonna die.’ But he was like, ‘You only die when you use needles…and I would never, ever, ever do that,'” she continues.
His injectable addiction is not the only thing that Kayti found suspicious about the whole thing. She also couldn’t understand why Perry would let his assistant inject him, because he had no medical training. It was also disconcerting that there was reportedly no drug paraphernalia found in Perry’s house after he died.
His former girlfriend/assistant said that he would expect someone with such a big addiction would have at least some paraphernalia in his house.
“When I heard that he let his assistant do it, I just couldn’t understand, especially as he had no medical training,” she explains.
She also says there are serious questions as to why no drugs or paraphernalia were found at the scene.
“If you have given him a big shot, there would be a needle and evidence of ketamine in the house. Where did it all go? Why did the assistant shoot him up with all those drugs and leave,” she says. “I always stayed with Matthew if he was taking drugs as I didn’t want him to OD , or anything to happen. I could call 911. But why wasn’t his assistant there.”
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Kayti is asking for a deeper look into the circumstances surrounding her late friend’s death. She doesn’t believe that he would ever become dependent on an injectable drug. And she does not believe that Perry would let someone with no experience inject him with something as powerful as ketamine.
Months Later, Multiple Arrests Made
Just three months after the LAPD and DEA launched their joint investigation, multiple arrests were made in connection with Perry’s ketamine overdose. The arrests sadly included two doctors, a middleman, the “Ketamine Queen” or North Hollywood, and Perry’s very own assistant, the man who found him unconscious, Kenneth Iwamasa.
Dr. Mark Chavez – Facing Up to 10 Years in Prison
Dr. Mark Chavez was a San Diego-based physician who ran his own ketamine clinic. He would write prescriptions for the clinic and then divert those prescriptions so they could be illegally sold, and he could make money off of them.
Chavez was texting with another doctor who worked with Mr. Perry. His text messages revealed that he called Mr. Perry a “moron” and was determined to get as much money as possible out of him. He reportedly sold the ketamine to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, the doctor he was exchanging the text messages with.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, Dr. Chavez has pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He also admitted to forging prescriptions for ketamine and deceiving a ketamine distributor. He admitted that he put patients’ names on the prescription forms without asking for the patient’s consent.
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Kenneth Iwamasa and Erik Fleming – Facing Up to 15 and 25 Years in Prison, Respectively
What makes the arrests of Kenneth Iwamasa and Erik Flemming so disappointing is that the late actor considered them both friends. They took advantage of him and let him down.
Erik Fleming served as the middleman between Ketamine Queen, Jasveen Sangha, and Mr. Iwamasa. Flemming would obtain the ketamine from Sangha as her stash house in North Hollywood, California. He would then bring the illegally obtained ketamine to Iwamasa. Just days before Perry died, Flemming admitted to giving Iwamasa more than 20 vials of the drug.
Mr. Flemming has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Kenneth Iwamasa worked for Mr. Perry for years and even lived with him at the time of his death. According to prosecutors, Iwamasa worked closely with Dr. Plasencia, Ms. Sangha, and Fleming to get his hands on the ketamine. He also admitted that he would inject Mr. Perry multiple times per day, including the day he died.
Mr. Iwamasa has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, causing death.
Jasveen Sangha and Dr. Salvador Plasencia
Jasveen Sangha, AKA the Ketamine Queen, and Dr. Salvador Plasencia are the only two who have not pleaded guilty to the charges against them. They also face the most amount of time in prison for their roles in Mr. Perry’s death.
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Sangha and Plasencia are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Sangha also is charged with one count of maintaining a 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.
Dr. Plasencia faces up to 120 years in prison. Ms. Sangha faces as little as 10 years, but as much as life in prison. She may also face additional charges due to drug activities not involved in Perry’s death.
If you or someone you know is struggling with [alcohol, drug, substance] abuse, there is help available. Please do not hesitate to reach out to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.