Who is the ‘Ketamine Queen’ charged in Matthew Perry’s overdose death?
The so-called “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles” has been charged with providing the ketamine that caused the overdose deaths of Matthew Perry and another man, according to the feds.
Jasveen Sangha, 41, earned herself the notorious nickname for allegedly selling ketamine and meth out of her North Hollywood “stash house” going back to as early as June 14, 2019, according to a California federal indictment made public Thursday.
Sangha continued to peddle the dangerous drugs until she was busted on March 19 for selling meth in a prior unrelated case. She had been out on $100,000 bond since March, court records show.
The drug queen used her North Hollywood home to “store, package, and distribute narcotics, including providing ketamine to co-conspirator [Erik] Fleming so that co-conspirator Fleming could sell it to Victim M.P.,” the indictment said, referring to Matthew Perry.
During the March raid on Sangha’s home, the feds seized 79 bottles of liquid ketamine and close to 2,000 meth pills, the New York Times first reported, citing court documents.
Now, Sangha has been charged alongside Dr. Salvador “Dr. P.” Plasencia, Dr. Mark Chavez, Perry’s personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, and Perry acquaintance Fleming after the “Friends” actor was found floating face down in a hot tub in his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28 in a death attributed to overdosing on the powerful anesthetic.
Fleming, 54, Iwamasa, 59, and Chavez, 54, have all taken plea deals.
Sangha is also charged in the new indictment for her role in the August 2019 ketamine overdose death of Cody McLaury, an Alaska native living in California who was a member of the LGBTQ community, according to his obituary.
In Perry’s death, Sangha allegedly provided Fleming with 50 vials of the drug in two separate deals in October that he ultimately gave to Perry.
First, Sangha provided Fleming with a sample of ketamine in an unmarked clear glass vial with a blue cap for Perry to try on Oct. 13, the indictment alleges. Fleming drove to her North Hollywood home to pick up the sample and then drove it to Perry’s residence, the filing claims.
The next day, Fleming went back to Sangha’s to pick up 25 vials of the drug and delivered them to Perry’s LA home, the court papers claim.
Just over a week later on Oct. 23, Fleming picked up $6,000 cash from Perry’s home to pay Sangha and the next day he went to Sangha’s to retrieve another 25 vials of the drug in exchange for the cash, the court documents allege.
Sangha threw in complimentary “ketamine lollipops” with Perry’s order because of how large it was, the indictment says.
Prosecutors allege Fleming dropped off the drug that day to Perry’s home, where Iwamasa administered “6 shots” of the drug to the actor — who made his name playing Chandler Bing on the hit comedy show.
Iwamasa continued to give Perry at least six doses a day on Oct. 25, 26 and 27 before administering the final fatal three doses on Oct. 28, the indictment charges.
Amid the bender on Oct. 25, Sangha sent Fleming a message asking if he’d be purchasing more of the drug because she and her drug source — whom she referred to as “the scientist” and “master chef” — would be out of town, the court papers claim.
Following Perry’s death, Sangha told Fleming to delete their messages from Signal and she changed the messaging app setting to automatically delete her messages, the filing alleges.
“Delete all our messages,” Sangha wrote to Fleming on Signal when news of Perry’s death hit headlines.
And after McLaury died, his family member texted Sangha telling her the ketamine she sold him had killed him.
“Within days of receiving this text, defendant Sangha confirmed that ketamine can kill by conducting a Google search for ‘can ketamine be listed as a cause of?'” the indictment alleges.
She is charged with 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.
If convicted on all counts, Sangha faces a minimum of 10 years behind bars and a maximum of life imprisonment.
Sangha is set to be arraigned alongside Plasencia in LA federal court Thursday afternoon.
A neighbor of Sangha’s, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he often saw her out late when he was coming home from his night job.
“She seemed nice and whatnot, but I kind of knew something was up. Something was going on there,” the man said.
He said other residents told him she partied and “had some sketchy people she hung around.”
“And, I work nights, so I’d come home at 4:00 and I would still hear her with people and whatnot,” he said.
Another neighbor, Jamie Jude, said he noticed “some weird characters coming in and out of their building.”
“We had people bringing in suitcases and stuff, and, just, like loud music late into the evening,” Jude explained. “And then one night, like, a couple months ago, some guy tried to bust out our door. So. Yeah, just like a little violent instance a couple of months back.”
The “17 Again” actor was found with 3.54 micrograms per milliliter of ketamine in his system — nearly three times the normal amount.
He’d been open about his addiction and mental health struggles and said he’d used ketamine therapy to help treat his depression. But his last treatment was over a week prior to his death and couldn’t have contributed to his overdose since the drug only has a half-life of three to four hours.
Sangha’s criminal defense attorneys didn’t immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Additional reporting by Olivia Land
