Matthew Perry Drug Dealer Gets 2 Years in Prison: ‘I’m Haunted by the Mistakes I Made’

The man who connected Matthew Perry with “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha and personally delivered 51 vials of ketamine to the Friends actor’s assistant, including the dose that resulted in Perry’s death in his backyard jacuzzi, was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday.

“I am haunted by the mistakes I made,” Erick Fleming told the court before hearing his fate. “I’m profoundly ashamed of myself. If there was any way I could bring Mr. Perry back, of course I would do it.”

Federal prosecutors had recommended a 30-month prison sentence, far less than the 15-year term Sangha received from the same judge last month. Prosecutors said Fleming deserved leniency because he “expediently accepted responsibility and agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation.”

Fleming, 56, asked for mercy in a letter to the court, requesting a 12-month “split sentence” that would include three months in prison followed by nine months in a residential drug treatment program. The USC graduate, ex-TV showrunner, and former licensed drug addiction counselor said he was “sick with shame about acquiring ketamine for Matt.” He said he still struggled to believe he “acted so recklessly for such a small amount of money.” (His lawyers wrote in a filing that he received less than $2,000 for “logistical fees” tied to three transactions with the actor.)

U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Fleming to three years of supervised release and ordered him to surrender to prison officials on or before June 29.

In his letter to the court, Fleming said he was relapsing during his own struggle with addiction in 2023 when he received a text from a friend saying Perry was looking for ketamine. Using a pseudonym for the woman, Fleming said she had “married a rich and famous crack cocaine addict” in 2008 before the couple later welcomed twins.

His defense lawyers told the court Fleming immediately confessed to his crimes when confronted by authorities and that he shared incriminating text messages preserved on his cell phone that led to Sangha’s arrest. Perry’s live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, also cooperated with prosecutors and is due to be sentenced on May 27. Fleming and Iwamasa, who admitted he injected Perry at least three times on the morning of his death, took plea deals before the case was unsealed in August 2024.

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Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, died on Oct. 28, 2023, from the acute effects of ketamine, his autopsy determined. He was 54.

According to his plea agreement, Fleming conspired with Sangha to sell ketamine to Perry in October 2023. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 8, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distributing ketamine resulting in death.

“I felt overwhelmed with grief and shame when I found out Matthew Perry died. I knew what I had done and understood how much pain his death would cause to the people who loved him,” Fleming said in his April 27 letter to the court. “To Matt’s family, I am very sorry for my inexcusable behavior in this case. I take full responsibility for my criminal acts. I hope my sentence provides some measure of justice and peace for everyone who loved Matt.”

“I am sick with shame about acquiring ketamine for Matt. I should never have gotten involved with helping an addict get drugs. Distributing illegally acquired drugs is dangerous and criminal. I am still in shock that I acted so recklessly for such a small amount of money. I blame no one but myself for my actions. I will serve my sentence with a contrite heart and never make a poor choice like that again.”
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After learning about Perry’s fatal overdose, Sangha called Fleming on Signal and updated the settings on her encrypted messaging apps to automatically wipe their messages, she admitted in her plea deal. She also instructed Fleming to “delete all our messages,” forensic evidence revealed. He preserved the messages.

Iwamasa, who was the first to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors, pleaded guilty on Aug. 7, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death. The sprawling criminal case also nabbed two medical doctors, who pleaded guilty to selling large quantities of liquid ketamine to Perry in the weeks before he started buying from Sangha. Dr. Salvador Plasencia was sentenced to 30 months in prison last December, while Dr. Mark Chavez was given eight months of home detention and three years of supervised release.