United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LOS ANGELES – A San Fernando Valley woman has agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including that she provided the ketamine that ultimately resulted in the overdose death of actor Matthew Perry in October 2023, the Justice Department announced on Monday. 

Jasveen Sangha, 42, a.k.a. “Ketamine Queen,” of North Hollywood, has agreed to plead guilty to 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.

Sangha, who is a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom, has been in federal custody since August 2024. She is expected to formally enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks.

Upon entering her guilty plea, Sangha will face at her sentencing hearing – which is expected to occur in the coming months – a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on the drug-involved premises count, up to 10 years in federal prison for each ketamine distribution count, and up to 15 years in federal prison for the count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

“This case sounded the alarm about the dangerous and deadly consequences of ketamine misuse,” said Brian M. Clark, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles Field Division. “The plea agreement will not bring back Mr. Matthew Perry, nor Mr. Cody McLaury, both of whom died because of Ms. Sangha’s illegal ketamine distribution activities. We remain hopeful that the message, weaved inside these tragic stories, will serve as a lifeline to those vulnerable to substance use disorder.”

According to her plea agreement, Sangha worked with Erik Fleming, 55, of Hawthorne, to knowingly distribute ketamine to Perry, a successful actor and author whose struggles with drug addiction were well documented. In October 2023, Sangha and Fleming sold Perry 51 vials of ketamine, which were provided to Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, of Toluca Lake, Perry’s live-in personal assistant.

Leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that Sangha supplied to Fleming. Specifically, on Oct. 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, which caused Perry’s death.

After learning from news reports of Perry’s death, Sangha called Fleming on Signal to discuss how to distance themselves from it. That day, Sangha updated the settings on the Signal apps to automatically delete her messages with Fleming. She further instructed Fleming to “Delete all our messages.” 

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[?].”

In her plea agreement, Sangha also admitted to selling four vials ketamine to victim Cody McLaury in August 2019. McLaury died hours later from a drug overdose.

Sangha also admitted in her plea agreement to possessing with intent to distribute various drugs at her North Hollywood residence. In March 2023, law enforcement searched the residence and 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, and 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.

She further admitted to using her North Hollywood residence to store, package, and distribute narcotics, including ketamine and methamphetamine, since at least June 2019.

The other defendants charged in this matter are:

• Mark Chavez, 55, of San Diego, a physician, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison at his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Sept. 17.
• Fleming, who pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12, at which time he will face up to 25 years in federal prison.
• Iwamasa, who pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 19, at which time he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.
• Salvador Plasencia, 43, a.k.a. “Dr. P,” of Santa Monica, pleaded guilty on July 23 to four counts of distribution of ketamine. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 3, at which time he will face up to 10 years in federal prison for each count.

The Los Angeles Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United States Postal Inspection Service are investigating this matter.

Assistant United States Attorneys Ian V. Yanniello of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section and Haoxiaohan H. Cai of the Major Frauds Section are prosecuting this case.

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