Doctor pleaded guilty to supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia pleaded guilty to four illegal distributions of prescription anesthetized ketamine.
LOS ANGELES – Jasven Sangha, the final defendant in Matthew Perry’s 2023 death criminal case due to “acute effects of ketamine,” agreed to plead guilty.
According to a judicial agreement signed on August 14 and obtained by USA Today, filed on August 18, Sanga, 42, said he would plead guilty to five counts.
According to prosecutors, Sanga faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years for charges related to drug-involved facilities, with each of the three ketamine distributions counting up to 15 years to distribute ketamine, which led to Perry’s death.
The date of her next court appearance has not yet been decided.
Prosecutors say in October 2023, Sanga was said to have been known as an acquaintance of Perry, in collaboration with Eric Fleming, selling 51 vials of ketamine to Perry’s live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. Iwamasa injected Perry with a short-acting anesthetic. Fleming and Iwamasa have previously reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
In a statement to USA Today, Sangha’s attorney Mark Geragos said “she is responsible for her actions.”
Who is Jasben Sanga, “Queen of Ketamine”?
In her legal agreement, Sanga has approved the sale of ketamine, which led to the overdose death of Los Angeles resident Cody McClary in 2019, five years before Perry’s death. In a press release on August 15, 2024, prosecutors pointed to McClary’s death as evidence that “Sanga was aware of the dangers of ketamine.” As part of her guilty plea, she “must pay full compensation to the victim,” Perry and McClary.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced the plea agreement in an August 18 press release, declined to comment when USA Today reached it.
The Sanga trial was scheduled to begin in Los Angeles on September 23rd.
Prosecutors have repeatedly described Sanga in their application the “Queen of Ketamine” in North Hollywood, a neighborhood in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. She has been storing, packaging and distributing drugs such as methamphetamine and ketamine in her home since June 2019.
Five pleaded guilty to Matthew Perry’s death
Sanga was one of five people charged at the age of 54, the death of the 54-year-old Friends star on October 28, 2023. She had previously pleaded not guilty to all charges against her, but Geragos maintained her innocence in the Peacock documentary special released in February.
“My clients never met Matthew Perry and had nothing to do with Matthew Perry. Otherwise, all the rumors that could be expected are just that. The urban legend.
In July, Dr. Salvador Placencia pleaded guilty to four counts of the illegal distribution of ketamine. As part of the plea agreement, Placencia admitted that he “deliberately distributed ketamine” to Perry a few weeks before his death, acting outside of “outside the scope of professional practice” and that drug distribution lacked “justified medical purposes.”
Film producer Eric Fleming said he distributed ketamine from the Sanga that killed Perry. He is scheduled to appear in court for the sentence on November 12th and faces up to 25 years of prison.
Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa bought at least $55,000 worth of ketamine for the actor, prosecutors said. The 60-year-old agrees to plead guilty to one conspiracy to distribute ketamine and is set to be sentenced on November 19th. Prosecutors said he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Dr. Mark Chavez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute the dissociative anesthetic ketamine in October. He is due to be sentenced September 17th, facing up to 10 years in prison, according to court records.
According to Chavez’s legal agreement, US lawyers accused San Diego-based Chavez, who ran the Ketamine Clinic, of illegally obtaining ketamine sold to Perry by presenting false information and writing a prescription without the consent of an unknown patient.
Matthew Perry died in the jacuzzi after a ketamine injection
On October 24, 2023, “Even though a week ago he told his patients he was dependent on them because they had no longer had (Perry) on their patients, Placencia ordered a wholesaler to sell 10 vials of ketamine to Perry, according to a large ju trial indictment against Placencia and Sanga. That same day, Fleming also delivered 25 ketamine vials he had purchased from Sanga to Iwamasa at Perry’s home.
On the following days, Iwamoto is said to have injected Perry with six shots of ketamine every day. On October 28, 2023, he injected “at least three shots of ketamine” obtained from Fleming and Sanga.
An autopsy report released in December 2023 revealed that Perry’s death was an accident and the cause was “acute effects of ketamine.” Contributing factors were the effects of drudgery, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine.
The medical examiner noted that the amount of ketamine, a “dissociative anesthetic” found in his system, was high at 3,540 nanograms per milliliter. “The general level of anesthesia is usually in the range of 1,000 to 6,000 ng/ml,” the report states.
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