Five people have been charged over the Friends star’s death

Five people have been charged in the drug-related death of Matthew Perry last year, police said, including two doctors and the actor’s assistant.

Police said Thursday that their investigation, which began in May, uncovered an “underground criminal network” of drug suppliers who distributed large quantities of ketamine.

Perry, 54, died at his home in Los Angeles in October. A post-mortem examination found a high concentration of ketamine in his blood and determined the “side effects” of the controlled substance had killed him.

“These defendants used Mr. Perry’s stories to enrich themselves,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said Thursday. “They knew what they were doing was very dangerous for Mr. Perry, but they did it anyway.”

Three defendants — including Perry’s assistant — have pleaded guilty to drug charges, and two others — a doctor and a woman known as “The Ketamine Queen” — were arrested Thursday, according to the Justice Department.

Ketamine – a powerful anesthetic – is used to treat depression, anxiety and pain. People close to Perry, who starred as one of the lead characters on the NBC television show Friends, told a coroner’s inquest after his death that he was being treated with ketamine.

But his last meeting was more than a week before his death. The medical examiner said the ketamine in Perry’s system was unlikely to come out of infusion therapy because of the drug’s short half-life.

The levels of ketamine in his body were as high as the amount given during anesthesia, according to the medical examiner.

The indictment filed in federal court details an elaborate drug-buying scheme that prosecutors say ultimately led to Perry’s death.

Prosecutors say Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, worked with two doctors to give the actor more than $50,000 (£38,000) of ketamine in the weeks before his death.

Officials argued those involved in the scheme tried to capitalize on Perry’s well-known drug use stories. One of the doctors, Salvador Plasencia, allegedly wrote in a text message: “I wonder how much this idiot will pay.”

Mr Plasencia, 42, administered ketamine to Perry “outside the normal course of practice and without legitimate medical intent”, according to the lawsuit.

He also allegedly taught Imasa how to inject Perry with ketamine without proper safety procedures and supervision, the police indictment said.

Four days before his death, Iwamasa gave Perry at least 27 shots of ketamine, prosecutors said.

He did so even after a large dose of ketamine earlier that month caused Perry to “freeze”, leading Mr Plasencia to advise against similar doses in the future, prosecutors said. The doctor left several vials of the drug with the actor and his assistant after the incident, according to the lawsuit.

Others charged in this case include Jasveen Sangha, who calls herself the “Ketamine Queen” who supplied the drug to Placencia with the help of two other defendants, Erik Flemming and doctor Mark Chavez.

Chavez, Flemming and Iwamasa all pleaded guilty.

Ms. Sangha and Mr. Plasencia will appear in court in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, the US Department of Justice said.

Prosecutors say the defendants tried to cover up their crimes after Perry’s death.

Ms Sangha is said to have texted another suspect, telling him to “delete all our messages”. Mr. Plasencia also falsified medical records, according to the lawsuit.

Drowning was also listed as a contributing factor in Perry’s death, which was ruled an accident. Other contributing factors were coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.

At the height of his fame, Perry struggled with addictions to painkillers and alcohol, and went to rehab several times. She detailed her struggle with drug addiction in her memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Awful Thing.

In 2016, he told BBC Radio 2 that he had no memory of the three years he was filming during Friends, due to alcohol and drugs.

After attempts at treatment, he wrote in his diary that he had been sober since 2001 – “save about 60 or 70 mistakes”.