\n The Los Angeles Medical Examiner\u2019s Office listed the cause of death<\/a> as \u201cacute effects of ketamine\u201d and subsequent drowning.\n <\/p>\n \n Sangha and four others were charged in August 2024 in connection with Perry\u2019s death.\n <\/p>\n \n A year later, Sangha agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges,<\/a> including providing the ketamine that led to Perry\u2019s death. Her plea follows the path of the other four defendants who struck agreements with federal prosecutors.\n <\/p>\n \n Shortly after Sangha\u2019s indictment, then-US Attorney for the Central District of California, E. Martin Estrada, told reporters, \u201cDefendants nowadays are on full notice that the products they sell could result in the death of another person. Therefore, if you\u2019re in the drug business and despite these risks, you continue in the drug business, you are pushed by greed to gamble with other people\u2019s lives, be advised, we will hold you accountable.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Perry\u2019s case draws parallels to the drug-related death of Mac Miller<\/a> in September of 2018. The rapper died after an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine and ethanol.\n <\/p>\n \n Major league pitcher Tyler Skaggs<\/a> died with high levels of opioids in his system in 2019. Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman<\/a> was found dead in 2014 with a syringe in his arm and a lethal combination of heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines and amphetamine in his system.\n <\/p>\n \n In each of these celebrity deaths<\/a>, those who were alleged to have supplied illegal substances were arrested. Not all of them were convicted.\n <\/p>\n \n Legal experts<\/a> say the emphasis on higher-profile cases and related prosecutions can play a crucial role in deterring illegal drug activities.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe emphasis on high-profile cases largely stems from the visibility they bring to the issue, helping to shed light on the broader implications of the drug crisis,\u201d Andrew Pickett, a lead trial attorney based in Melbourne, Florida, told CNN in August 2024.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey serve as a warning to both practitioners operating on the fringes of legality and those facilitating substance abuse,\u201d Pickett said.\n <\/p>\n \n The rise of drug-related deaths has forced law enforcement and prosecutors around the country to adjust tactics by dedicating more personnel to aggressively target traffickers and dealers.\n <\/p>\n \n Even the death of a customer<\/a> is not always a deterrent for a drug dealer to halt their illicit business practices. CNN\u2019s Josh Campbell met up with an undercover officer to discuss the issue in 2022. Asked why dealers would aggressively sell a product with a high potential to kill their customers, the LAPD detective said that is not a paramount issue for cartels and those selling fentanyl to teens.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt all comes down to money, it all comes down to profit,\u201d he said. \u201cThe dealer\u2019s main objective is to get you hooked, and if you don\u2019t die from it, then you\u2019re a customer for as long as you live.\n <\/p>\n \n That appears to have been the case with Perry.\n <\/p>\n \n Estrada, the federal prosecutor, mentioned Perry\u2019s battles with addiction, which have been well documented for years. The actor published a memoir<\/a> less than a year before his death describing his decades-long struggles.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe investigation revealed that in the fall of 2023, Mr. Perry fell back into addiction and these defendants took advantage to profit for themselves,\u201d Estrada said in 2024.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cHe would think of (drug dealers) as sometimes his best friends, sometimes his worst enemies,\u201d Perry\u2019s stepfather, Keith Morrison, said in court.\n <\/p>\n \n While investigating Perry\u2019s death, the US Attorney\u2019s Office said they uncovered an underground network of doctors and drug suppliers they claim were responsible for distributing the ketamine.\n <\/p>\n![\"Matthew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c-ap26091533666137.jpg\")
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