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Actor Matthew Perry speaks about his book during the 28th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California on April 22, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Actor Matthew Perry speaks about his book during the 28th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California on April 22, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
LOS ANGELES — A former producer and drug counselor who distributed the ketamine that killed Matthew Perry was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison.
Erik Fleming, 56, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Prosecutors had asked for a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence; Fleming’s attorneys asked for three months, followed by three years of supervised release.
Fleming admitted in his plea agreement that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry in October 2023. He also admitted to obtaining the ketamine from Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine queen,” and to distributing 50 vials of ketamine to the actor’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.
Sangha, 42, was one of five people charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine to Perry, who died from acute effects of the drug. Sangha was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison.
In sentencing papers, prosecutors said Fleming sold 51 vials of ketamine to Perry in October 2023. “At the time, defendant knew that Mr. Perry had suffered from addiction for many years,” prosecutors wrote.
“On October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Mr. Perry with at least 3 shots of ketamine obtained from the defendant (Fleming) and Sangha,” prosecutors wrote. “Mr. Perry was found later that day face down in a jacuzzi and deceased.”
Salvador Plasencia, a former physician who supplied ketamine to Perry in the weeks leading up to his death, was previously sentenced to serve 30 months — about two and a half years — in prison. Mark Chavez, another former doctor who played a role in providing the actor ketamine, was sentenced to eight months of house arrest.
Iwamasa has not yet been sentenced.
In a six-page letter to the judge ahead of sentencing, Fleming said he felt “overwhelmed with grief and shame” upon learning of Perry’s death and apologized to the actor’s family.
He said he’d obtained the ketamine for Perry, “because I wanted the money and because I thought I was doing a favor for a friend.”
“As a certified drug counselor and addict, I knew it was illegal and wrong to distribute black market drugs,” Fleming wrote. “I had met Matt a few times and knew about his struggles with substance abuse. I should never have agreed to acquire ketamine for Matt.”
Fleming will also be made to attend mental health treatment while in prison and will serve three years probation following his term.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett said Fleming played a major role in supplying ketamine that “ultimately led to Mr. Perry’s death.”
Garnett said the case demanded punishment that reflected both the seriousness of Perry’s death and Fleming’s extensive cooperation with investigators.
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