Five people have been charged in connection with Matthew Perry‘s death from a ketamine overdose last year, including the actor’s assistant and two doctors, prosecutors said Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced the charges Thursday, saying the doctors supplied Perry with a large amount of ketamine and even wondered in a text message how much the former “Friends” star would be willing to pay.
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Perry died in October due to a ketamine overdose and received several injections on the day he died from his live-in personal assistant.
Three of the defendants, including a doctor, have already pleaded guilty to federal drug charges in connection with this death, while two others were arrested on Thursday, according to the Department of Justice.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said investigators conducted a wide-ranging investigation following Perry’s death in October 2023 that “revealed a broad, underground criminal network responsible for distributing large quantities of ketamine to Mr. Perry and others.”
The investigation has been ongoing since Perry’s death and includes the Los Angeles Police Department, DEA, U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The lead defendants in the case are Sangha and Plasencia. The three others separately charged in the case include Iwamasa, Chavez and Fleming.
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“These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves,” Estrada said during a press briefing on Thursday. “They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry, but they did it anyway.”
Plasencia pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Thursday afternoon, appearing with shackled feet in a button-down shirt and slacks.
Judge Alka Sagar agreed to Plasencia’s release on $100,000 bond and ordered him to relinquish his passport. The judge also mandated that a sign be posted in the clinic alerting all patients of the ongoing federal case, and that patients must sign a form each time consenting that they are aware. The next hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 8.
Sangha also pleaded not guilty during her arraignment on Thursday, appearing in a green Nirvana sweatshirt with purple hair and shackles on her feet.
Her attorney sought to have her released on bond. But the judge expressed concerns about her behavior in recent years and especially following Perry’s death and described her “unrelenting return to drug dealing” after “her involvement in 2 overdose deaths including Perry’s and an individual in 2019 allegedly linked to her dealing.