A drug dealer called “Ketamine Queen” that ultimately killed actor Matthew Perry pleaded guilty to several criminal charges in federal court on Wednesday.
Jasveen Sangha, 42, was charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine to Perry, whose struggles with drug addition and numerous rehab visits were well documented and died from acute effects of the drug in October 2023. Sangha supplied the ketamine the actor injected on the day of his death, according to the plea agreement, which also noted that she sold drugs for years out of her North Hollywood apartment, described in a federal prosecuted as “Sangha Stash House”.
Sangha’s guilty plea was the final of five defendants related to friend star overdose and ketamine use. She pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining drug participation in the drug venue, three counts of ketamine distribution and one count of ketamine distribution resulting in death or serious physical injury.
She also admitted that four bottles of ketamine were sold to Cody McLaury in August 2019. McLaury, 33, died at his Los Angeles home, including ketamine.
“My client is accepting her responsibility,” said Mark Geragos, one of Sangha’s lawyers.
She faces up to 65 years in prison under the plea agreement. However, federal prosecutors said in a plea agreement that if she assumes responsibility, they may seek less time in prison.
Perry, who Indulge in intravenous ketamine, Start buying powerful drugs from Southern California doctors in late September 2023,,,,, According to the indictment and law enforcement officers. A month later, Perry contacted former producer and drug consultant Erik Fleming.
Under her plea deal, Sangha worked with Fleming of 55-year-old Hawthorne’s to deliberately distribute ketamine to Perry. In October 2023, Sangha and Fleming sold 51 vials of ketamine in Perry, which were offered to Perry’s personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.
Iwamasa, 60, from Toluca Lake, repeatedly injected Perry with ketamine provided to Fleming that Sangha had. Under the plea agreement, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of santha ketamine on the day he died in a hot tub of ocean view.
Shortly after the Los Angeles Times and TMZ published news about Perry’s death, Sanha said Fleming was discussing how to distance himself from the encrypted messaging app signals. That day, Sangha updated the settings on the Signals app to automatically delete her messages using Fleming. She further instructed Fleming: “Delete all our messages.”
Two days after Perry’s death, Fleming [Perry]- Only his assistant. So the assistant is the promoter. Also, they are undergoing 3 months of Tox screening… Will K stay in your system or rush out immediately[?]. ”
Prosecutors asked Sangha to admit she knew the dangers of ketamine. In August 2019, she sold the drug to McLaury before taking it overdose, according to the plea agreement. A McLaury family member later sent her a text message saying that ketamine had caused his death.
After receiving the text, she conducted a Google search: “Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?”
In the affidavit, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent described Sangha as a “large-capacity dealer” who retained “handwritten notes detailing thousands of dollars in drug deals.”
According to the agent, she uses coding language to trade drugs in multiple chat threads with clients.
In addition to Sangha, four others have pleaded guilty to federal charges for their role in Perry’s death.
Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to allocate ketamine and ketamine distribution, resulting in death. In November’s sentencing, he will face 25 years in federal prison. Ivamasa pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to distribute ketamine and cause death. He will face 15 years in federal prison during his Nov. 19 sentencing.
Ketamine is often used as an anesthetic, but has become increasingly popular over the past decade as a treatment for specific mental health diagnosis, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. The drug is called “Special K” at the party scene, while becoming more popular for entertainment purposes.
Two doctors who also helped Perry supply ketamine are waiting for sentencing. Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, of San Diego, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He faced up to 10 years in federal prison at a sentence hearing next month.
Salvador Plasencia, 43, also known as “Dr. P”, pleaded guilty in July to four counts of ketamine allocation. His sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place in December when he faces each charge for a decade.
