The woman who pleaded guilty to selling Friends star Matthew Perry the ketamine that killed him has been handed a 15-year jail sentence.
Jasveen Sangha, 42, also known as the 'Ketamine Queen,' pleaded guilty last September to five charges, which included one count of distributing ketamine resulting in death or bodily injury.
US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence on Wednesday (8 April), making her the third defendant to be sentenced of the five people who have pleaded guilty in connection with the overdose of the actor.
Perry died in October 2023 at the age of 54, and he was found in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home, with it later being discovered that the actor's death was caused by the acute effects of ketamine.
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects, and it's supposed to be administered only by a physician.
The American actor shot to fame as Chandler Bing on the 1990s and 2000s sitcom Friends, which made him a global sensation, and the news of his tragic death sent shockwaves around the world.
Perry had been open about his struggles with addiction for years and had previously taken ketamine legally to treat depression. However, as reported by The Guardian, his doctor refused to give him the drug in the amounts he wanted, prompting him to seek it from other sources.
Five people, including Sangha, have been charged in connection with the case - doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, his assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who injected him with the drug, and his acquaintance Erik Fleming.
Sangha admitted she provided the actor with 50 vials of ketamine before his death, with Fleming acting as a middleman.
In December last year, Plasencia was jailed for two-and-a-half years for illegally supplying ketamine to the actor in the weeks before his death.
Meanwhile, Chavez, was sentenced to eight months home confinement after he admitted selling ketamine to Plasencia.
Perry's mother, Suzanne, was in attendance at court when the sentence was issued, as was his stepfather, Keith Morrison.
While in a victim impact statement, Perry's stepmother Debbie said: "You caused this... You who has talent for business enough to make money chose the one way that hurts people. Please give this heartless woman the maximum prison sentence so she won't be able to hurt other families like ours."
Sangha, who has been in custody since her arrest in August 2024, was also given an opportunity to address the court and admitted that she feels shame over her actions.
“These were not mistakes. They were horrible decisions,” she said, and acknowledged that they 'shattered people’s lives and the lives of their family and friends'.
She added, "I pray for forgiveness every day. Thank you for giving me the harshest reality check of my life. Thank you for taking me out of the equation."
NBC News reports that Perry's stepfather Morrison said the judge delivered 'a highly reasoned sentence'.
He added: "We miss Matthew dreadfully, of course, and I feel badly for the perpetrator here as well. Nobody won today."
Topics: Matthew Perry, Friends, Crime, News, US News, World News, Celebrity
