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Multiple Arrests in Connection With Actor Matthew Perry's Death; Matthew Perry Death Investigation Revealed Underground Drug Network; Doctors, Live-In Assistant Charged in the Death of Matthew Perry. Aired 1-1:30p ET
Aired August 15, 2024 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just minutes from now, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will take the stage together, their first joint appearance since Biden dropped out of the presidential race. They are set to tell what they've done to lower drug crop costs for Americans.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: But despite the United Front, we're learning that behind the scenes, Biden still has some complicated feelings about his ouster.
You're looking at live images from where they are expected. We will take you there live when it begins.
But first, we're following breaking news out of Los Angeles. Law enforcement is about to give a news conference after making multiple arrests in connection with the death of actor Matthew Perry. A source telling CNN that these arrests include federal charges.
DEAN: The Friends actor died in October and autopsy report blamed the acute effects of ketamine and ruled his death an accident.
CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller is joining us now as well as defense attorney Misty Marris.
I believe they're coming to the podium, so we're keeping our eye on that. We're, of course, going to be hearing from officials, Boris, about these charges. They look to be there at the microphone. Let's see what they have to say.
MARTIN ESTRADA, U.S. ATTORNEY: Good morning. My name is Martin Estrada. I'm the United States attorney based in Los Angeles. We're here today with our law enforcement partners to announce federal criminal charges related to the death of the actor, Matthew Perry.
Following Mr. Perry's death in October of last year, law enforcement, my office, and our partners represented on this stage began an in- depth, wide ranging investigation. That investigation has revealed a broad, underground criminal network responsible for distributing large quantities of ketamine to Mr. Perry and others. This network included a live-in assistant, various go-betweens, two medical doctors, and a major source of drug supply known as, quote, the ketamine queen.
We charged five defendants in this matter. These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry, but they did it anyways. In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr. Perry than caring for his wellbeing.
I'm going to talk about the indictment, the allegations, and the charges in more detail. On October 28, 2023, Mr. Perry was found deceased in his home. An autopsy was conducted following his death. That autopsy showed that he had died due to the acute effects of ketamine.
Ketamine is a controlled substance. It has some legitimate uses, but it is also used illegally. It is used by people seeking to disassociate from reality. It can cause serious health effects, serious health problems, including loss of consciousness, including spikes in blood pressure, and including respiratory issues that can deprive the brain of oxygen.
For that reason, it is a drug that must be administered by medical professionals, and the patient must be monitored closely. That did not occur here.
This investigation focused on who supplied the ketamine to Mr. Perry. As many of you know, Mr. Perry struggled with addiction in the past. On many occasions, he sought help for his addiction issues. The investigation revealed that in the fall of 2023, Mr. Perry fell back into addiction. And these defendants took advantage to profit for themselves.
The two lead defendants in this case are Defendants Salvador Plasencia and Defendant Jasveen Sangha. First I'll talk about defendant Plasencia. Defendant Plasencia was a medical doctor.
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He worked with another medical doctor, Defendant Mark Chavez, to obtain ketamine. He then worked with Mr. Perry's live-in assistant, Defendant Kenneth Iwamasa, to distribute that ketamine to Mr. Perry.
Over two months, from September to October 2023, they distributed approximately 20 vials of ketamine to Mr. Perry in exchange for $55,000 in cash. Defendant Plasencia saw this as an opportunity to profit off of Mr. Perry. He wrote in a text message in September 2023, quote, I wonder how much this moron will pay. He also stated in text messages that he wanted to be Mr. Perry's sole source of supply. He wrote in a text message that he wanted to be Mr. Perry's, quote, go-to for drugs.
As a doctor, Defendant Plasencia knew full well the danger of what he was doing. In fact, on one occasion he injected Mr. Perry with ketamine and he saw Mr. Perry freeze up and his blood pressure spike. Despite that, he left additional vials of ketamine for Defendant Iwamasa to administer to Mr. Perry. Of course, Defendant Iwamasa had no medical training to speak of.
Defendant Plasencia knew what he was doing was harming Mr. Perry. He had spoken to another patient in mid October 2023, and he told that patient that Mr. Perry was spiraling out of control with his addiction. Nonetheless, Defendant Plasencia continued to offer ketamine to Mr. Perry.
Likewise, Defendant Sangha knew what she was doing was harming defendants and also Mr. Perry. She took advantage of Mr. Perry by selling large amounts of ketamine to Mr. Perry over a two-week period in October of 2023. She sold approximately 50 vials of ketamine for approximately $11,000 in cash. She worked with a broker, Defendant Eric Fleming, and also the live in assistant, Defendant Iwamasa, to distribute this ketamine.
Sangha and the broker, Defendant Fleming, saw this as an opportunity to profit off of Mr. Perry. In a text message, the broker wrote, quote, I wouldn't do it if there wasn't a chance of me making some money for doing this. Defendant Sangha sold the batch of ketamine that resulted in Mr. Perry's death on October 28th.
Officers later searched defendant Sangha's home. During that search, they found what amounted to a drug selling emporium. They found 80 vials of ketamine, thousands of pills containing methamphetamine, cocaine, bottles of Xanax and other illegally obtained prescription drugs, and drug selling paraphernalia, including scales and ledgers.
As I mentioned, the defendants in this case knew what they were doing was wrong. When they'd refer to the ketamine, they use coded language. They'd refer to it using terms such as, quote, Dr. Pepper or, quote, bots (ph), or, quote, cans. Also Defendants Plasencia and Chavez, as medical doctors, knew full well this was not the proper way to administer ketamine, and they even talked about that in their exchanges.
And Defendant Sangha also knew that she was doing something that caused great risk to Mr. Perry. In fact, during this investigation, we learned that several years before, in 2019, Defendant Sangha had sold ketamine to another customer. That person died the same day. And a family member of that person sent a message to Defendant Sangha telling her the cause of death was ketamine. Nonetheless, Defendant Sangha continued selling drugs, including ketamine, including the ketamine that ultimately killed Mr. Perry.
That other victim was a person named Cody McLaury. He died in 2019. As a result of this investigation, we have filed a drug distribution charge related to the death of Mr. McLaury.
After Mr. Perry died, these defendants tried to cover up what they had done. On October 28th, after reading news reports of Mr. Perry's death, Defendant Sangha wrote a text message to Defendant Fleming saying, quote, delete all our messages.
[13:10:07] Likewise, after Mr. Perry died, Defendant Plasencia falsified medical records and notes to try to make it look like what he was doing was legitimate. It was not.
We have filed numerous federal charges against the five defendants. These charges include conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution of ketamine resulting in death, maintaining drug involved premises for that drug selling emporium that Defendant Sangha had, altering and falsifying records related to a federal investigation for those false medical notes and records that Defendant Plasencia made, and multiple other drug trafficking counts.
Of course, the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The penalties these defendants face are very significant. With regard to Defendant Plasencia, the statutory maximum sentence he faces is 120 years in federal prison. With regard to Defendant Sangha, the statutory maximum she faces is life imprisonment.
By filing these extensive and serious charges, we are sending a clear message. If you are in the business of selling dangerous drugs, we will hold you accountable for the deaths that you cause. This is nothing new for us. Since 2022, my office has filed over 60 cases against drug dealers who've caused the death of another person.
These cases are known as death resulting cases. They're labor intensive cases. We work with our law enforcement partners, including ones represented here today to bring those cases. Our office is a national leader in bringing those cases. They're very important because every victim's life counts. If you are in the drug selling business and you're selling dangerous drugs, you're playing roulette with other people's lives, just like the five defendants here did to Mr. Perry.
Defendants nowadays are on full notice and the products they sell could result in the death of another person. Therefore, if you're in the drug business and despite these risks you continue in the drug business, you are pushed by greed to gamble with other people's lives. Be advised, we will hold you accountable.
I want to thank our partners in this case, Los Angeles Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. These investigators did a phenomenal job digging into the case, looking at every angle to develop a case, a strong case, against not only those who killed Mr. Perry, but also Mr. McLaury. I want to note that these cases are important and will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to bring them to ensure that justice is brought to every victim.
And, finally, let me thank the prosecutors responsible for the investigation and the prosecution of this case. Those are Assistant United States Attorneys Ian Yanniello and Haoxiaohan Cai.
And now I'd like to introduce chief of Los Angeles Police Department Dominic Choi.
CHIEF DOMINIC CHOI, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: All right. Good morning. And thank you, Martin. You know, while it's tragedy that brings us all here together, I'm happy to stand here knowing that these dangerous individuals are no longer on the streets, and they won't be able to harm anyone else.
The Los Angeles Police Department and our partners here today were committed to investigating all cases like this. And it's regardless of someone's background or socioeconomic status. And just with all of our cases, this impartially. We let the facts drive this investigation and those facts led us to a group of individuals who were responsible for supplying and distributing to Mr. Perry narcotics that led to his unfortunate and untimely death.
The group standing here today, it's a prime example how our partnerships and our collaboration can yield meaningful results. I want to thank LAPD our robbery homicide division who's standing in the back there, the U.S. attorney, Martin Estrada, and his team, the DEA and her team, as well as the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and their team for their hard work, diligence and real patience.
Now, I know people think this took a long time, but there was a lot of work, a lot of investigative strategies that went into this to make sure that there's a solid case and that we can pursue this in the courts.
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Our relationship with our federal partners, it helps us ensure that these criminals will have meaningful sentences and be an example for anyone that is willing to risk or jeopardize distributing and supplying unlawful or narcotics to anyone. And I just really want people to know that that is the message. You cannot get away with this regardless of your background or socioeconomic status. Breaking the law is breaking the law and you are dangerous and you are jeopardizing lives.
So, thank you all, all my partners, for being involved in this and being bringing us to where we are at today. And at this time I'd like to introduce DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.
ANNE MILGRAM, ADMINISTRATOR, DEA: Good morning. Today, we announced charges brought against five individuals. who together are responsible for the death of Matthew Perry. Each of the defendants played a key role in his death. They falsely prescribed, sold or injected the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry's tragic death.
In the United States, most forms of ketamine are only approved by the Food and Drug Administration for anesthesia. A nasal spray version is approved for treatment of depression, but only in a certified medical setting. Here, Matthew Perry sought treatment for depression and anxiety and went to a local clinic where he became addicted to intravenous ketamine.
When clinic doctors refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous doctors who saw Perry as a way to make quick money. Dr. Plasencia and Dr. Chavez violated the oath they took to care for their patients. Instead of do no harm, they did harm so that they could make more money. Without performing any medical evaluation or monitoring, they supplied Matthew Perry with large amounts of ketamine in exchange for large sums of money, charging Perry $2,000 for a vial that cost Dr. Chavez approximately $12. As Matthew Perry's ketamine addiction grew, he wanted more, and he wanted it faster and cheaper.
That is how he ended up buying from street dealers who sold the ketamine that ultimately led to his death. In doing so, he followed the arc that we have tragically seen with many others whose substance use disorder begins in a doctor's office and ends in the street. Perry turned to a street dealer, Eric Fleming, who sourced his ketamine from a drug trafficker known as the ketamine queen, Jasveen Sangha. The ketamine supplied by Sangha would ultimately be the dose that took Matthew Perry's life.
Sangha knew that the ketamine she supplied could be deadly. Since in 2019, she had sold ketamine to Cody McLaury, who died at the age of 33. But despite this knowledge, she continued to sell ketamine and methamphetamine throughout Los Angeles.
SANCHEZ: We have been listening to law enforcement officials in Southern California, giving a detailed account of their investigation into the death of Matthew Perry, and how he obtained the illicit drug, ketamine, that ultimately led to his death. They say they uncovered a broad underground criminal network to get ketamine to Perry, including two doctors, a live-in assistant, and several others. They said that that network took advantage of Perry's addiction in order to profit.
We're going to keep following this story very closely. We're going to sneak in a quick break. We'll get you the latest as soon as we return on CNN.
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DEAN: We are continuing to monitor this press conference. We are listening now to Matthew Shields, who is the postal inspector. Five people charged in the death of Matthew Perry. Let's listen into what he's saying.
ESTRADA: I'll now do brief remarks in Spanish and then we'll do questions and answers. Where are the Spanish language reporters?
DEAN: Okay, so we're going to let him do that. We'll, of course, keep an eye on this.
We have two people with us, CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller as well as defense attorney Misty Marris. Welcome to both of you.
We're getting all of these details about these individuals who have been charged with getting these drugs and often distributing these drugs, administering these drugs to Matthew Perry. John, what's your reaction to what we've learned, five people now in charge, including medical doctors and his live-in assistant? JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, this is a very familiar scenario, and one that took a long time to put together. So, from the time of Matthew Perry's death, you know, in that warm end of the heated pool when he's found face down, that is what the LAPD comes into the picture with a death investigation, right? It could be a homicide. It could be a suicide. It could be an overdose.
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And they have to work with the L.A. County coroner and put together what happens. And then by December, the coroner has done all the toxicologies and the L.A. County coroner says this is the acute effects of ketamine.
Now, they turn it into a different kind of investigation. Sure, it's a drug overdose, but who's behind that? And remember, we've seen that in cases going all the way back to John Belushi or Michael Jackson, where the people who dealt the drugs, or even prescribed the drugs, ended up being held responsible in those cases. To the more recent, Michael Kay Williams case, the individual who was a star of the T.V. show, The Wire, where they backtrack from that overdose to figure out where did that substance come from, how did it make it to this person, and did the person who was selling it, distributing it, prescribing it, did they know that this could cause someone's death and act irresponsibly? So, you're seeing all those elements come together here.
From the death investigation, the LAPD calls in the DEA, and they're saying, we want to look at prescriptions, but we also want to look at diversion, drugs that came into the house that were not prescribed by medical personnel, drugs that were prescribed at medical personnel, and were they prescribed properly. And then you get the postal inspectors who enter the investigation, and they're going to bring to how is this stuff shipped? Where was it coming from? Where does it originate from? Was it going through the mails or through FedEx or UPS or any other service where they have that special expertise and jurisdiction?
And all of that goes into a grand jury. And that grand jury and those prosecutors become a machine. They're generating subpoenas. Whose phone numbers are connected to whose phone numbers? Give us all those calls. Give us all those text messages. What computers are involved? How about laptops? What about D.M.s, I.M.s, instant messages text messages?
And you heard the U.S. attorney talk about this obstruction of justice piece where they said messages after Perry's death were sent between parties saying delete all your text messages about Matthew Perry, but they are able to go to different servers, go to providers and get all that.
And this all becomes a very intricate macrame, a richer picture that develops and gets clearer until they can go to that grand jury and say, this is all we've learned from that case and get those indictments. And they laid that out piece by piece today in a fascinating case. SANCHEZ: And, Misty --
MILLER: And a tragic case.
SANCHEZ: Absolutely. To John's point, Misty, there was a moment during the press briefing in which Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, actually pointed to specific text messages that were exchanged by the defendants, one of them, Dr. Plasencia discussing with Dr. Chavez how much to charge Mr. Perry, saying, quote, I wonder how much this moron will pay, and let's find out.
The U.S. attorney essentially pointing to that and other details, saying that they knew that this was going to cause harm, but they wanted to essentially gauge, grab money from him, Misty.
MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, absolutely. What a breach of trust by doctors who are in a unique position to understand the import of Matthew Perry's situation and the fact that he had struggled with drug addiction, but taking that to the next level to the legal level, and John laid everything out perfectly with respect to the investigation.
But the reason why we're hearing so much about those text messages and how this case was put together is that the charges are based in conspiracy. Conspiracy means a meeting of the minds, an agreement between individuals to partake in this drug ring. And the second piece of that, which is why it's so pertinent specifically to who the representatives today called the masterminds of the scheme, the primary defendants, the reason that's so important is, was it likely to result in Matthew Perry's death?
And so all of that information, that electronic footprint, those text messages, the acts to cover up the crime and the cover-up, all of that is weaved together in order to support that theory of a conspiracy, which is the umbrella under which all of the defendants are being charged.
So, the reason that we're seeing all of that in these indictments is that it speaks specifically to the critical elements that prosecutors need to prove in order to establish these conspiracy prosecutions. So, this was really an intricate investigation.
I'm not surprised to see federal charges here when we first learned of the investigation and that the DEA and Post Office was involved. It indicated that this was a more widespread drug ring rather than something that was localized.
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So, we may find that there's more to come as this case unfolds, but shocking allegations here in this indictment.
SANCHEZ: Yes, shocking.
