Matthew Perry’s assistant among 5, including two doctors, charged in Friends star’s death

Five people including his personal assistant and two doctors have been charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death in what prosecutors called a “broad underground criminal network” dedicated to getting the Friends star the powerful surgical anesthetic that killed him.
The doctors preyed on Perry’s history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to provide him with ketamine in amounts they knew were dangerous, US Attorney Martin Estrada said as he announced the charges Thursday.
“They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said. “They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr Perry. But they did it anyway.”
One doctor even wrote in a text message, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets find out,” according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
Perry died in October due to a ketamine overdose and prosecutors said he received several injections on the day he died from his live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who found Perry dead later that day and was the first to talk to investigators.
Perry had been receiving regular ketamine infusion treatments for depression, in amounts not nearly enough to account for his death, from his regular doctors, who were not among those charged, authorities said.
When those doctors refused to give him more, he went in desperation to others. “We are not talking about legitimate ketamine treatment,” Estrada said. “We’re talking about two doctors who abused the trust they had, abused their licenses to put another person’s life at risk.”
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in one instance the actor paid USD 2,000 for a vial of ketamine that cost one of the physicians about USD 12. Perry paid the doctors about USD 55,000 in cash in the two months before his death, Estrada said.
Two of the people, including one of the doctors charged, were arrested Thursday, Estrada said. Two of the defendants, including Iwamasa, have pleaded guilty to charges already, and a third person has agreed to plead guilty.Among those arrested are Dr Salvador Plasencia, who is charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and also two charges related to allegations he falsified records after Perry’s death. (PTI)