The “Queen of Ketamine” accused of being involved in Matthew Perry’s death — and yet another fatal overdose — should be brought to justice, a grieving friend told The Daily Beast.
Cody McCrory died in 2019 from taking ketamine that he allegedly purchased from Jasveen Sangha, but his death was ignored until federal prosecutors announced they would be charging Sangha with murder in the deaths of McCrory and the Friends star.
McCrory’s best friend, Roger Montoya, told The Daily Beast that he hopes “those responsible for the bad things that happened to (McCrory) pay the price.”
McCrory died from the effects of ketamine at age 31. Montoya told The Daily Beast that he and McCrory had moved to Los Angeles together from their hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. McCrory moved back, and they remained close until tragedy ended their friendship.
“There were so many things that remained unanswered,” Montoya said after McLaury’s death. “You hear it, but you don’t want to believe it. It’s still very raw for me.”
“I literally felt like I was going to throw up” when she heard her friend had died, Montoya said.
Those close to McCrary insisted he “did it on his own.”
“A lot of people loved talking about him,” Montoya said, “and they just wanted to be attached to him. So when people told me about[his death]I was like, ‘I don’t care, what do you have?’
“Very few people really knew him on that intimate level,” he added.
Jasveen Sangha, “Queen of Ketamine”
Jojo Korsch/BFA.com/Shutterstock
Prosecutors outlined a much different story at a news conference Thursday: that Sangha callously supplied McLaury with ketamine and then, undeterred by his death, continued his illegal business and made a fortune by turning his California home into a “drug store.”
Four years later, prosecutors allege that Sangha sold ketamine to Perry at her Pacific Palisades home for a month until his death on Oct. 28, 2023. She is accused of working with doctors Salvador Plascencia and Mark Chavez, Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, and “broker” Eric Fleming to continue supplying the actor with the drug.
All five involved are now charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distributing ketamine resulting in death, maintaining a drug facility and falsifying records. Iwamasa, Fleming and Chavez each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
“Regardless of what may or may not have happened, I just hope that justice is served and that it is recognized where it belongs,” Montoya said. “Cody was a very sweet, kind, gentle and misunderstood person.”
Montoya said he was “hopeful” that McCrory could “rest in peace” now that the situation was clear, but that he remained saddened by the loss of his friend.
“I just want to call him all the time,” he said. “I just miss my friends.”
