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Matthew Perry‘s stepfather, Keith Morrison, broke his silence after five people were federally charged for the Friends alum’s death.
“We were and still are heartbroken by Matthew’s death,” Morrison and family said in a statement to NBC News on Thursday, August 15. “But it has helped to know law enforcement has taken his case very seriously.”
Morrison, 77, and Perry’s loved ones are looking forward to “justice taking its course” after the actor’s former personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, two doctors and two other people were indicted and charged on Thursday.
Kenneth Iwamasa, Jasveen Sangha and Salvador Plasencia were charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution of ketamine resulting in death, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and altering and falsifying records related to a federal investigation.
Iwamasa, Mark Chavez and Erik Fleming were charged separately with counts including conspiracy to distribute ketamine, according to The New York Times. All three pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Fleming also pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
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Perry died in October 2023 at the age of 54 due to “acute effects of ketamine.” Us Weekly confirmed at the time that people responded to a call of someone in cardiac arrest at a Los Angeles home, where they found the actor unconscious in a hot tub.
Perry’s death was ruled an accident and an initial investigation closed in January but was subsequently reopened.
Perry was previously candid about his battle with addiction through the years. He previously developed an addiction to Vicodin after a Jet Ski accident which caused him to begin abusing alcohol. Perry was hospitalized with pancreatitis in 2000 and made multiple attempts to get sober — entering treatment twice.
“As other people have told me hundreds of times, it doesn’t go away. It’s with you every day. It’s with you all the time, and there’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain,” he told Hoda Kotb on the “Making Space” podcast in March. “It’s not easy, especially for his mom.”
Morrison was asked if he was surprised by the loss, adding, “It was the news you never want to get, but you think someday you might. Yes and no, I guess is the answer to that.”
According to Morrison, Perry seemed to be “beating” his substance abuse struggles at the time of his death. “But you never beat it, and he knew that, too,” Morrison added at the time.
