Drug counsellor who supplied fatal ketamine to Matthew Perry sentenced to two years in prison
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The counsellor admitted he connected the actor to a dealer prosecutors dubbed the “Ketamine Queen,” later cooperating with investigators after being tracked down months after Perry’s death.
A licensed drug addiction counsellor who delivered the ketamine doses that killed Matthew Perry was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison.
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Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence to Erik Fleming, 56, at a federal court in Los Angeles for his role in the "Friends" star's tragic 2023 death.
"It’s truly a nightmare I can’t wake up from," Fleming said in a deep, somber voice from the podium before his sentencing. "I’m haunted by the mistakes I made."
Fleming connected Perry to Jasveen Sangha - dubbed "The Ketamine Queen" by prosecutors - delivering drugs from her home to Perry's and marking them up for profit.
Sangha was sentenced last month to 15 years.
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Fleming's attorney Robert Dugdale told the judge he “handed over the Ketamine Queen on a silver platter.”
"They didn't have a clue who she was before that day," Dugdale added.
He would likely have gotten about four years in prison if it weren’t for his cooperation. The prosecution said he deserved credit for doing the right thing, but argued that he did so only when confronted and cornered by authorities.
"Mr. Fleming didn’t cooperate because he had a benevolent motive, or because he wanted justice for Mr. Perry," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello said. "He wanted to save himself."
The judge also pointed out that Fleming didn't come forward in the months after Perry's death and that investigators might have gotten the same information he gave them simply through the seizure of his phone. But all agreed that his cooperation sped up and smoothed the investigation.
Fleming became the first defendant to plead guilty in August 2024, admitting to distribution of ketamine resulting in death. He told the judge it was an act of desperation "in the midst of the worst time of my life."
Outside the courthouse, he said "my chest and heart hurt every day for the pain I caused not only his family but the millions of people who adore him."
What exactly was Fleming's involvement?
Perry had been receiving legal ketamine treatments for depression and sought additional supply through a friend, who introduced him to Fleming - a former film and TV producer whose career had been derailed by addiction before he became a counsellor.
Fleming said he was in the midst of a major relapse brought on by life struggles. He got ketamine from Sangha and took it to Perry's house where he sold it to the actor's live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.
His deliveries included 25 vials for $6,000 four days before Perry’s death.
Iwamasa injected Perry from that batch on 28 October 2023, and later found him dead. A medical examiner determined Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning as a secondary cause.
The 2 1/2-year investigation and prosecution that resulted should come to a close in two weeks with the sentencing of Iwamasa.
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