Multiple people charged in connection with overdose death of actor Matthew Perry

Multiple people have been charged in connection with the accidental overdose death of actor Matthew Perry, law enforcement sources told NBC News on Thursday.

Perry, 54, was found face down in the heated end of a pool at his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office attributed his death to the acute effects of ketamine, an anesthetic with psychedelic properties.

At least one person was arrested in Southern California early Thursday, the sources said. Federal prosecutors are expected to unseal an indictment later in the day detailing the allegations against that individual and the others.

The family of “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison, who is Perry’s stepfather, said in a statement that they welcomed the news of the law enforcement action.

“We were and still are heartbroken by Matthew’s death, but it has helped to know law enforcement has taken his case very seriously,” the family said. “We look forward to justice taking its course.”

Los Angeles police said in May that they were working with federal authorities to investigate the source of the ketamine Perry had consumed.

Ketamine has been a popular party drug for decades. In recent years, it has shown promise as an alternative treatment for depression. A growing number of clinics offer it as an infusion or injection for a wide variety of mental health problems.

Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety, but his last session took place more than a week prior to his death. The medical examiner noted that the ketamine in Perry’s system “could not be from that infusion therapy” given its short half-life. 

The levels of ketamine in his body were high — equivalent to the amount used for general anesthesia during surgery, according to the medical examiner.

The coroner ultimately ruled his death an accident. Contributing factors included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.

Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on “Friends,” had been open about his lengthy struggles with opioid addiction and alcoholism, which he chronicled in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.” But at the time of his death, he had been clean for 19 months, according to the medical examiner’s report.

It’s not uncommon for law enforcement to investigate — and in some cases bring charges against — the people who supplied the drugs that caused a high-profile death.

After the death of Michael Jackson in 2009, his private physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for providing the singer with a fatal dose of powerful drugs. More recently, federal prosecutors in New York brought charges against four men who supplied actor Michael K. Williams with the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed him in 2021.