New details have emerged about Friends star Matthew Perry’s final hours after five people were charged in connection with his death from the acute effects of ketamine.
According to court papers obtained by NBC News, Perry told his longtime assistant Kenneth Iwamasa to “Shoot me up with a big one” the night he received the fatal doses. Iwamasa, who pled guilty to various ketamine distribution charges in exchange for a plea deal, would inject Perry himself with the drug despite having no medical training.
After connecting with a doctor by the name of Salvador Plasencia, who connected Perry to the drug through “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha in September 2023, the actor was receiving six to eight shots per day in the month leading up to his death on Oct. 28, 2023.
The documents also said that Perry requested three shots of ketamine in just six hours the day he died. It was after the third that Iwamasa went out to run errands and returned to find Perry face down in the heated end of his pool. Perry’s longtime assistant admitted to authorities that he had administered 27 shots of ketamine to Perry during his final five days.
The investigation into Perry’s death revealed that the actor had relapsed following his long battle with addiction—a battle he’d previously been open about—and also uncovered a “broad, underground criminal network,” authorities announced Thursday.
Iwamasa, Plasencia, Sangha, another doctor by the name of Mark Chavez, and a dealer named Erik Fleming have all been charged in connection to Perry’s death. The charges include conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution of ketamine resulting in death, maintaining drug-involved premises, and falsifying records, among other counts.
Fleming, Iwamasa, and Chavez have all accepted plea deals, according to the New York Post, and Sangha the “Ketamine Queen,” pleaded not guilty ahead of her trial scheduled for Oct. 8.
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