(DailyAnswer.org) – Several suspects were arrested in Southern California in connection to actor Matthew Perry’s accidental overdose last year.
On Thursday, Aug. 15, US Attorney Martin Estrada announced charges against five suspects in connection with Perry’s death in October 2023 from a ketamine overdose. Among those charges are two doctors and the actor’s former assistant.
The 54-year-old actor was found dead on Oct. 28, 2023, at his home in the Pacific Palisades. Perry was discovered lying face down in the heated section of his swimming pool, submerged in the water. According to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), a witness found Perry “unresponsive in his jacuzzi.”
The Lost Angeles County coroner released the autopsy report on Dec. 15, 2023, and ruled Perry’s death was due to an overdose of ketamine, high levels of which was found in his system. The autopsy also listed contributing factors that were unrelated to that immediate cause: buprenorphine effects, coronary artery disease, and drowning. The death was ruled to be accidental.
The charges against the doctors allege that they supplied the actor with substantial amounts of ketamine. The filing notes evidence in the form of text messages in which they speculated amongst each other about how much Perry would pay for the drug, which is an anesthetic that also produced some psychedelic-life effects.
Reporters citing law enforcement sources state that the arrests happened “in an early morning operation” on Thursday. As part of the search warrants, law enforcement seized the suspects’ phones, computers, and other electronics as evidence.
The five suspects were later identified as 59-year-old Kenneth Iwamasa, who was Perry’s live-in assistant who injected the actor with ketamine at his request; 42-year-old Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who also allegedly administered the drug; 54-year-old Dr. Mark Chavez, who allegedly obtained the drug illegally for Plasencia; and two dealers identified as 41-year-old Jasveen Sangha and 54-year-old Erik Fleming. According to prosecutors, the ketamine that killed the “Friends” actor came from Sangha and was sold to Iwamasa.
Three of them (Iwamasa, Fleming, and Chavez) have already taken plea deals while Sangha and Plasencia have pleaded not guilty to all charges. All of them could face anywhere from 10 to 25 years in prison.
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