The tragic last hours before Friends actor Matthew Perry died from a drug overdose have been laid bare in new court documents.
Perry was found dead at his home in Los Angeles, aged 54, on 28 October last year.
The actor was taking ketamine six to eight times a day before he died, according to court documents.
Five people have been charged in connection with Perry’s death, including his live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, a doctor named Salvador Plasencia, known as “Dr. P”, and Jasveen Sangha who was referred to in documents as the “Ketamine Queen“.
She allegedly would sell the drug to Eric Fleming, another defendant and an acquaintance of Perry, who would sell it to his assistant.
Perry, via Iwamasa, was said to have paid Plasencia at least $55,000 (£42,500) in the month before he died for ketamine.
Iwamasa, Fleming, and a second doctor, Mark Chavez, who sold ketamine that he had previously obtained by writing a fraudulent prescription to Plasencia, pleaded guilty to the charges against them.
Plasencia and Sangha pleaded not guilty and are set to go to trial.
‘Shoot me up with a big one’
According to the court documents, on the day Perry died, Iwamasa was accused of injecting the actor at 8.30am with his first shot of ketamine of the day.
He allegedly then administered a second shot of the drug at 12.45pm while Perry was watching a movie, according to documents.
“Approximately 40 minutes later, Victim M.P. [Perry] asked the defendant to prepare the jacuzzi for Victim M.P. and told defendant, ‘shoot me up with a big one,’ referring to another shot of ketamine,” the prosecutor’s document alleged.
Iwamasa then was said to have injected Perry with his third shot in six hours, before going out to run errands.
When he returned, he was said to have found Perry face down in the water, dead.
Salvador Plasencia. Pic: Malibu Canyon Urgent Care
Jasveen Sangha
Pic: BFA.com/Shutterstock
In the days leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa was alleged to have been administering six to eight shots of ketamine a day to him, according to the court documents.
‘Out of control’
The actor had begun taking ketamine as part of infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety, but, according to prosecutors, had developed an “out of control” dependence on it and began sourcing unsupervised doses.
On 12 October, Perry took ketamine with a doctor, but still contacted Plasencia to acquire more, prosecutors said.
It was alleged they met at Perry’s home where the actor was given a “large dose” but had a bad reaction to it, leading to his blood pressure spiking and his body beginning to “freeze up”.
Money Iwamasa paid for the ketamine. Pic Central District of California Prosecutor’s Office
Fleming sent Iwamasa a picture of three unmarked jars and said: ‘I guarantee it’s going to be amazing’. Pic: Central District of California Prosecutor’s Office
Despite this, Plasencia left additional ketamine at Perry’s house, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors also alleged that Plasencia taught Iwamasa how to administer the drug, even though Iwamasa had no medical experience or education.
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‘Dr Pepper’
Court documents claimed to reveal extensive correspondence between some of the defendants as they discussed sourcing drugs for Perry, with one of the doctors said to have messaged: “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” and “Let’s find out.”
In another, Fleming allegedly sent a picture to Iwamasa of three unmarked jars said to contain ketamine with the message: “I guarantee it’s going to be amazing.”
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They would also use codewords and refer to bottles of ketamine as “Dr Pepper”.
Also in the documents, filed on Thursday, Plasencia allegedly told a patient that Perry was “too far gone and spiralling in his addiction” the week before he died but that he still offered to sell Perry ketamine through Iwamasa anyway.
When Perry died, the levels of ketamine in his body were equivalent to the amount used for general anaesthesia during surgery, according to NBC News.
Iwamasa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, as did Fleming, who also admitted one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Chavez agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Meanwhile, Plasencia pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Sangha, a dual US and UK citizen, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine, maintaining a drug-involved premises, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute ketamine, and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
