Five people — including two doctors — are now facing federal charges in connection with the 2023 ketamine death of Friends star Matthew Perry, ABC News has learned.
The five in question have been charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine, according to a federal source.
The indictment alleges that the two doctors were the initial sources of supply, but federal officials believe that at one point the drugs became too expensive and Perry switched to a new source, including a woman known as “The Ketamine Queen” of Los Angeles, according to the federal source.
Two of the suspects identified in the indictment are Jasveen Sangha, allegedly known as “The Ketamine Queen,” and Salvador Plasencia, a licensed medical doctor known as “Dr. P.”
Their arrests were made in an early morning operation Thursday, after a multiagency investigation.
The indictment alleges numerous interactions of sales from Plasencia to the co-conspirators. They allegedly used encrypted messaging and coded language referring to ketamine as “Dr. Pepper” to distribute their drugs, according to the indictment.
Perry died on Oct. 28, 2023, at the age of 54. He was discovered unresponsive in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home, police said. An autopsy report revealed he died from the acute effects of ketamine.
Perry had high levels of ketamine in his blood, likely lapsed into unconsciousness and then went underwater, according to the autopsy report.
He was reported to have been receiving ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety, with the most recent therapy 1 1/2 weeks before his death. But the medical examiner wrote that the ketamine in his system at the time of death could not have been from that infusion therapy. His method of intake was listed in the report as unknown.
The autopsy report also listed drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects as contributing factors not related to the immediate cause of death. The manner of death was ruled an accident.
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