{"id":267,"date":"2026-05-13T19:04:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=267"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:04:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:04:27","slug":"drug-counselor-who-gave-matthew-perry-fatal-ketamine-gets-2-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=267","title":{"rendered":"Drug counselor who gave Matthew Perry fatal ketamine gets 2 years in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>A licensed drug addiction counselor who delivered \u201cFriends\u201d star Matthew Perry the doses of ketamine that killed him was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=265\">Valley libraries with unique play and learning spaces for kids in Goodyear, Gilbert, and more<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence to 56-year-old Erik Fleming in a federal court in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s truly a nightmare I can\u2019t wake up from,\u201d Fleming told the judge before the sentence. \u201cI\u2019m haunted by the mistakes I made.\u201d He wore a black suit and spoke at the podium with a deep, somber voice.<\/p>\n<p><b>RELATED STORY | <\/b><b>&#8216;Ketamine Queen&#8217; gets 15 years in prison for selling Matthew Perry the drugs that killed him<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Fleming was the fourth defendant sentenced of the five who have pleaded guilty in prosecutions over the actor\u2019s 2023 death in the Jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home. Fleming connected Perry to Jasveen Sangha, the convicted drug who dealer prosecutors called \u201cThe Ketamine Queen.\u201d She was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>Fleming gave up Sangha to investigators as soon as they contacted him and in August 2024 became the first defendant to plead guilty, admitting to one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. That was before arrests in the case were even announced, and Wednesday was his first court appearance since his role became public knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>He would have gotten about four years in prison if it weren\u2019t for his cooperation, according to federal sentencing guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors said in a sentencing memo before the hearing that while Fleming\u2019s exceptional cooperation should bring a lighter sentence, his role as a drug counselor who \u201cdeliberately undertook to sell illegal street drugs to a victim who had a public, well-documented battle with drug addiction\u201d should count against him, even if Perry wasn\u2019t one of his regular clients.<\/p>\n<p><b>RELATED STORY | <\/b><b>Doctor who helped supply Matthew Perry ketamine pleads guilty to drug charge<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Defense lawyers had asked for a sentence of three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility, saying in their sentencing memo that Fleming \u201chas gone to extreme lengths to atone for his criminal conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=263\">Valley restaurants offer \u2018kids eat free\u2019 deals for families looking to save money dining out<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He said his great remorse \u201ccan\u2019t compare to the agony I\u2019ve caused\u201d to Perry\u2019s family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>Perry had been receiving ketamine treatments for depression \u2014 an increasingly common off-label use.<\/p>\n<p>A few weeks before his death, Perry was seeking more of the drug than he could get through doctors and asked a friend to help him get more. She was in a treatment facility, so introduced Perry to Fleming. He was a former film and television producer whose career had been ravaged by addiction. He got sober and became a drug counselor, but had relapsed after the 2023 death of a beloved stepmother who had rescued him from a traumatic childhood, his lawyers said.<\/p>\n<p>Fleming would get ketamine from Sangha, mark up the price to make a profit, and deliver it to Perry\u2019s house, where he sold it to the actor\u2019s live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI procured ketamine for Matthew Perry because I wanted the money and because I thought I was doing a favor for a friend,\u201d Fleming said in a letter to the court. \u201cI never contemplated the worst possible outcome. This grievous failure will haunt me forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His deliveries included 25 vials for $6,000 four days before Perry\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>Iwamasa would inject Perry from that batch on Oct. 28, 2023, and hours later, he found the actor dead. A medical examiner\u2019s report found that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, a surgical anesthetic, and drowning was a secondary cause.<\/p>\n<p>Iwamasa is set to be the last defendant sentenced in two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Perry, who died at 54, became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing on \u201cFriends,\u201d NBC\u2019s culture-changing sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004.<\/p>\n<p>An auction of his valuables including \u201cFriends\u201d memorabilia will go to benefit the foundation founded in his name after his death.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=253\">Amazon to launch 30-minute delivery service in these US cities<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A drug addiction counselor who delivered the fatal ketamine doses to Matthew Perry was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the actor\u2019s death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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