Five days before his death, Matthew Perry referred to himself as “Mattman”—something he did in three other posts—and shared his final public words: “Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good?”
After news broke on October 28 that the Friends actor was discovered face down in his hot tub by his assistant and later pronounced dead, at 54, by paramedics, fans were perplexed by his cryptic words before his sudden passing.
But now—with the arrests connected to the investigation into the star’s death—those who loved Perry are enraged by how people close to him took advantage of someone trying to overcome habits that had long afflicted him.
On the day Perry died, his live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa—the man who discovered the actor in the hot tub—administered his first ketamine shot of the morning at around 8:30 a.m., according to a plea agreement he signed.
At 12:45 p.m., Iwamasa injected Perry again while the actor watched a movie at home. Just 40 minutes later, Perry—who had been increasingly taking ketamine in the days before his death—requested another shot.
“Shoot me up with a big one,” Perry told Iwamasa, according to the agreement, and asked him to prepare the hot tub.
The third dose was administered while Perry was either near or in the jacuzzi, according to court documents. Iwamasa then left the home to run errands. When he returned, he found Perry dead, face down in the jacuzzi.
Iwamasa—one of five defendants charged by the Department of Justice—reportedly injected Perry six to eight times per day. Court documents state that Perry received at least 27 shots of ketamine—administered by his assistant—in the five days leading up to his death.
The other defendants include physicians Salvador Plascencia and Mark Chavez, who pleaded not guilty. They are accused of supplying Perry with more of the drug as he became increasingly desperate in the weeks leading to his death.
Plascencia reportedly mocked Perry in a text message to Dr. Chavez, writing, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.” Prosecutors later revealed that the two doctors supplied Perry with a total of 22 vials of ketamine and ketamine lozenges obtained through a fraudulent prescription.
Plascencia, known as “Dr. P.,” also instructed Iwamasa on how and where to inject ketamine into Perry’s body, which Iwamasa did without any medical training.
“Found the sweet spot but trying different places led to running out,” Iwamasa texted Plascencia on Oct. 4, according to court documents.
“These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves,” Martin Estrada, the United States attorney for the Central District of California, said at a news conference on Thursday.
The two other defendants are Jasveen Sangha, accused of being a dealer, and Erik Fleming, an acquaintance who pleaded guilty to acting as a middleman.
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