“Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha has been sentenced to 15 years in Matthew Perry’s death as she apologized for having a “hand in this tragic outcome.”
In tan prison scrubs, the 42-year-old drug dealer appeared emotional as she made a statement in front of the Friends star’s parents and other family members who were sitting on the front row of the Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday morning. Despite apologizing, prosecutors said she had been heard on jail calls discussing book deals and trademarks.
Sangha was one of five people federally charged after Perry, who played Chandler Bing in the hit show from 1994 to 2004, was found dead in the hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home on October 28, 2023. Federal prosecutors had asked for 15 years in prison.
From the courtroom, Sangha accepted that her drug dealing had “shattered peoples’ lives and that of their family and friends.”
On Wednesday morning, Perry’s mom and stepfather, Suzanne Perry and Keith Morrison, were seen entering the federal courthouse just before 10 a.m. (PT). His family described him as “sad, miserable and fabulous” as they told the judge the impact of his death.
Prosecutors Wednesday described Sangha as a “brazen” dealer who had “set her mind to dealing drugs for notoriety and personal gratification.”
In a court filing ahead of the sentencing, prosecutors wrote that Sangha had displayed a “cold callousness and disregard for life.”
Sangha and another man named Erik Fleming sold Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, sold 51 vials of ketamine before his death, according to a plea agreement she reached with prosecutors last year.
On December 15 2023, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office declared that Perry had passed away from the “acute effects of ketamine.”
The autopsy report also cited drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid use disorder, as contributing to his death.
Prosecutors say that Perry had used ketamine to treat depression and had received ketamine infusion therapy from doctors. But it is claimed the actor began getting the drug from dealers when his doctors refused to prescribe him more doses.
Perry’s personal assistant has admitted to injecting him with several doses of the drug on the day he died.
Sangha, of North Hollywood, California, pleaded guilty to five federal criminal charges in August. These included one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
She had faced up to 65 years in prison.
Prosecutors say that after she found out Perry had died, she deleted text messages and told Fleming to do the same.
The Department of Justice says that two days after Perry’s death, Fleming left Sangha a voicemail on Signal and texted: “Please call . . . Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry]. Only his Assistant. So the Assistant was the enabler. Also they are doing a 3 month tox screening . . . Does K stay in your system or is it immediately flushed out[?].”
Prosecutors say that when her home was searched by law enforcement in March 2024 they found 1.7 kilograms of pressed pills containing methamphetamine, 79 vials of liquid ketamine, MDMA (Ecstasy) tablets, counterfeit Xanax pills, baggies containing powdered ketamine and cocaine.
They also found other drug trafficking items such as a gold money counting machine, a scale, a wireless signal and hidden camera detector, drug packaging materials, and $5,723 in cash.
In November, her lawyer, Mark Geragos, filed court papers stating that Sangha had been sober for 17 months and asked for her medical issues, no criminal history, strong family support and advanced education to be taken into consideration at sentencing.
Her sentencing comes after Dr Salvador Plasencia, 44, was jailed in December for 30 months after pleading guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine.
Plasencia apologized directly to Perry’s family in the courtroom, telling them: “I am just so sorry.”
He repeatedly wiped his brow throughout, as he told the court how he would one day have to explain his role to his young son. “I failed to protect a mother’s son. I failed Mr. Perry, I failed his family and I failed myself,” the disgraced doctor said.
Dr Mark Chavez, of San Diego, was also sentenced in December to three years of supervised release and 300 hours of community service for his role in Perry’s death.
He pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine, which is a surgical anesthetic that can be used to curb opioid withdrawal. He admitted obtaining ketamine from his former clinic and from a wholesale distributor where he submitted a fraudulent prescription. The court heard that Chavez provided the ketamine to Plasencia.
"My heart goes out to the Perry family," said Chavez outside the court after his sentencing.
Iwamasa, 60, of Toluca Lake, pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and is scheduled to be sentenced April 22.
Fleming, 55, of Hawthorne, pleaded guilty August 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death, admitting that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, prosecutors said. He is set to be sentenced on April 29.
