Five people are facing federal charges in connection with the death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry from ketamine. This became known to ABC News, reports UNN.
Law enforcement sources said the arrests were made during a Thursday morning operation.
According to a federal source, five individuals, including two doctors, have been charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine. The indictment alleges that the two doctors were the original sources of supply, but at some point federal officials felt the drugs became too expensive and Perry switched to a new supplier, including a woman known as the "Ketamine Queen" from Los Angeles, according to the federal source.
Two of the suspects named in the indictment are Jaswin Sangha, allegedly known as the “Ketamine Queen,” and Salvador Plasencia, a licensed physician known as “Dr. P.
The indictment alleges numerous sales interactions from Plasencia to co-conspirators. According to the indictment, they allegedly used encrypted messages and coded language referring to ketamine as “Dr. Pepper” to distribute their drugs.
The charges will also include the death of another man who is referred to by the initials C.M. in the indictment, according to a federal source.
The charges will be announced at a briefing Thursday with the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
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Perry died on Oct. 28, 2023, at the age of 54. He was found unconscious in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home, police said. An autopsy report showed he died from acute exposure to ketamine.
After his death, some of the accomplices allegedly talked about distancing themselves from the actor and deleting evidence from their phones, according to the indictment.
Charges in the grand jury indictment include conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution resulting in death, and possession with intent to distribute.
According to the autopsy report, Perry had high levels of ketamine in his blood, likely lost consciousness and then went underwater.
He was reportedly receiving ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety, the latter therapy having been administered 1 1/2 weeks before his death, according to the autopsy report. However, the medical examiner wrote that the ketamine in his system at the time of death could not have been the result of that infusion therapy because ketamine's half-life is three to four hours or less.
His mode of consumption was listed as unknown in the autopsy report.
The autopsy report also listed drowning, ischemic heart disease, and the effects of buprenorphine as contributing factors unrelated to the immediate cause of death. The manner of death was ruled an accident.
Prescription drugs and pills were found at his home, but nothing near where he was found dead, according to the autopsy report.
Several agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Los Angeles Police Department, the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Attorney's Office, conducted the investigation in the months following his death.
Perry was known for his role as Chandler Bing on the popular sitcom Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004.
The actor's family, which includes his mother Suzanne Morrison and stepfather Keith Morrison, said Thursday that they are “heartbroken over Matthew's death, but it helped that law enforcement took his case very seriously. We look forward to seeing justice served.