THE street dealer who sold Matthew Perry’s personal assistant the fatal batch of ketamine that led to the Friends star’s death has been pictured for the first time since pleading guilty.
A disheveled Erik Fleming, one of five suspects charged in connection with Perry’s fatal drug overdose in October 2023, was pictured in Los Angeles on Thursday ahead of his sentencing in November.
Exclusive photos obtained by The U.S. Sun showed Fleming stepping out of his Toyota Rav4 wearing dark sunglasses, a scruffy dark gray crewneck sweatshirt, and light gray sweatpants.
The drug dealer, who pleaded guilty last August to conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death, was carrying a 30oz tumbler in his right hand and using his arm to clutch a stack of documents and another mug.
A second set of photos showed Fleming, 54, returning to his car this time wearing a royal blue Lacoste polo shirt, light gray sweatpants, blue and white Alo Yoga sneakers, and a Los Angeles Chargers baseball hat.
Fleming was seen carrying a tumbler that advertised the TV show The Chosen, two books and an Alo shopping bag.
It’s the first time Fleming has been pictured since he pleaded guilty in connection with Perry‘s fatal drug overdose.
Perry was found floating face down and unresponsive in the hot tub of his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles on October 28, 2023.
His death was a result of from acute effects of ketamine and subsequent drowning, according to an autopsy report by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.
In August 2024, prosecutors announced the arrests of Fleming; Jasveen Sangha, who was known to investigators as the Ketamine Queen; doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez; and Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s personal live-in assistant.
Along with Fleming, Iwamasa, and Chavez, a San Diego-based doctor who calls himself “The Health MD,” agreed to plead guilty to a slew of felony charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Sangha and Plasencia have pleaded not guilty and are set to be tried together on August 19.
Matthew Perry’s Ketamine Death: Arrests Made
Chavez is scheduled to be sentenced on September 17; Fleming’s sentencing is set for November 12, while Iwamasa’s sentencing is scheduled for November 19.
THE RED DOOR LINK
Before he was named as a suspect in Perry’s overdose, Fleming was a program director at the the Red Door – a lavish Bel-Air drug treatment center – where a client died in 2021, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
On January 4, 2021, William Cooney, 36, was found unresponsive and lying in the facility’s bathroom floor by fellow residents at the Red Door, the outlet reported.
Clients and employees at the Red Door told the Hollywood Reporter that Cooney obtained the fatal batch of drugs, including fentanyl, from another roommate and not from the facility.
The Bel-Air drug treatment centers’ lawyer, Michael Plonsker, confirmed Fleming’s employment status at the Red Door to the outlet, but said he was not present at the facility on the day Cooney died.
Cooney’s father, Gary, said he met Fleming after his son’s death and suspects he had “likely been a malign influence” on his loved one.
“I felt like he was feeling me out to befriend me in my grief,” Gary told the Hollywood Reporter.
Sarah Morse, the victim’s ex-wife, told the outlet that Cooney’s then-girlfriend Brooke Mueller, who also struggled with addiction, introduced him to Fleming.
Morse claimed Mueller introduced Fleming as “an assistant, best friend, and acquaintance,” and together urged Cooney to go to the Red Door rehab facility.
“Erik was, in fact, the program director at the Red Door and had a financial stake in pushing William there,” Morse told the Hollywood Reporter.
“Despite his family’s objections, William was taken to the rehab by Erik, who personally drove him there.”
Morse described the facility as being “notorious for its bad reputation, marred by disgraceful conduct of its owners.”
However, the Red Door’s lawyer said the rehab center and its founders “bear no responsibility for” Cooney’s death, and proclaimed the establishment “operates at the highest levels of client care.”
Fleming has not been charged or named a suspect in Cooney’s death.
Suspects in Matthew Perry’s death
Five suspects were arrested in August 2024 and charged in connection with Friends actor Matthew Perry’s fatal drug overdose in October 2023.
Suspects who have plead guilty:
- Erik Fleming, 54, pleaded guilty on August 9, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 12, 2025.
- Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, pleaded guilty on August 7, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 19, 2025.
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 17, 2025.
Suspects who have pleaded not guilty:
- Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 42, pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
- Jasveen Sangha, “the Ketamine Queen,” 41, pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine, and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
- Plasencia and Sangha are scheduled to be tried together on August 19.
MATTHEW PERRY’S ADDICTION
Federal prosecutors said that in the weeks leading up to Perry’s death, the Friends actor fell back into addiction, which “spiraled out of control” during the fall of 2023.
In late September of that year, doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez coordinated with Iwamasa, Perry’s assistant, to distribute ketamine to the beloved actor, 54.
In a text exchange between Plasencia and Chavez, the suspects discussed how much they were going to charge Perry, with Plasencia writing, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets [sic] find out.”
Between September and October 2023, Plasencia, Chavez, and Iwamasa distributed approximately 20 vials of ketamine to Perry, prosecutors said.
Plasencia and Chavez profited about $55,000, charging the actor $2,000 for a vial of ketamine that cost them $12.
Investigators said the two dishonest doctors “took advantage of Perry’s addiction to enrich themselves,” with Plasencia saying he “wanted to be Mr. Perry’s sole source of supply for drugs.”
On certain occasions, Plasencia injected Perry with ketamine and watched as the actor would “freeze and his blood pressure spike.”
FATAL DOSE
But as Plasencia allegedly kept supplying drugs to Perry, his addiction grew and he turned to street dealers to score ketamine for cheaper and quicker.
In mid-October 2023, Perry turned to Erik Fleming, an acquaintance who knew through a mutual friend, who coordinated and communicated with Iwamasa to sell drugs to the actor.
Fleming sourced his drugs from Jasveen Sangha, who investigators said was known in Hollywood as the Ketamine Queen.
The middleman drug peddler would bring cash to Sangha’s stash house in North Hollywood to buy vials of ketamine, federal prosecutors said.
On October 23, 2023, using the instructions and syringes provided by Plasencia, Iwamasa injected Perry with ketamine he had purchased from Fleming and Sangha.
“Shoot me up with a big one,” Perry told Iwamasa as he sat in his backyard jacuzzi, the assistant told investigators.
Iwamasa then told investigators he left to run errands, and when he returned to the home at around 4 pm, Perry was face down in the jacuzzi.
He jumped in, pulled Perry to the steps, and called police. Paramedics arrived within minutes and declared the actor dead.
After news of Perry’s death broke, Sangha, 41, texted Fleming, “Delete all our messages,” prosecutors said.
Investigators said Sangha sold Iwamasa about 50 vials of ketamine, profiting approximately $11,000 in cash during a two-week period.
Timeline of Matthew Perry’s case
Here is a timeline on the progress of Matthew Perry’s case since his death:
- Matthew Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub by his assistant on October 28, 2023.
- He was pronounced dead at the scene after firefighters lifted him from the hot tub.
- Perry was 54 at the time of his death.
- His funeral was held at Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood Hills on November 3.
- On December 15, 2023, Perry’s death was ruled as an accident from the “acute effects of ketamine.”
- The Los Angeles Police Department launched a criminal investigation in December to determine how Perry obtained the drugs that took his life.
- The LAPD has since been working with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Postal Inspection Service to re-trace the line of supply of the ketamine.
