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by ALEXX ALTMAN-DEVILBISS | The National News Desk
LOS ANGELES (TNND) — A licensed drug addiction counselor who supplied ketamine linked to the death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence to 56-year-old Erik Fleming in a federal court in Los Angeles. He was one of five people who pleaded guilty.
“It’s truly a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” Fleming told the judge before the sentence. “I’m haunted by the mistakes I made.”
Defense lawyers had asked for a lesser sentence of three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility, saying in a sentencing memo that Fleming “has gone to extreme lengths to atone for his criminal conduct.”
Fleming connected Perry to Jasveen Sangha, a drug dealer prosecutors dubbed the “Ketamine Queen,” who was sentenced in April to 15 years in prison.
He was the first defendant to plead guilty and quickly cooperated with investigators after they contacted him in August 2024, providing information about Sangha.
Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo that while Fleming’s cooperation warrants leniency, his role as a drug counselor who “deliberately undertook to sell illegal street drugs to a victim with a public, well-documented battle with addiction” should weigh against him — even if Perry was not his regular client.
Perry had been receiving ketamine treatments for depression, an increasingly common off-label use.
According to court filings, Perry was introduced to Fleming by a friend at a treatment facility while seeking more of the drug. Fleming, a former film and television producer, had struggled with addiction before becoming sober and working as a counselor, but relapsed in 2023.
He obtained ketamine from Sangha, marked up the price, and arranged deliveries to Perry’s home, where Perry’s live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, purchased it. One delivery included 25 vials for $6,000 just four days before Perry’s death.
“I procured ketamine for Matthew Perry because I wanted the money and because I thought I was doing a favor for a friend,” Fleming wrote in a letter to the court. “I never contemplated the worst possible outcome. This grievous failure will haunt me forever.”
Iwamasa injected Perry with the fatal dose on Oct. 28, 2023. Perry was later found dead in his jacuzzi.
Iwamasa is scheduled to be sentenced in two weeks, the last of the defendants in the case.
An auction of Perry’s valuables, including “Friends” memorabilia, will benefit the foundation established in his name shortly after his death.
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Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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