The man who authorities described as Matthew Perry’s “street dealer” was once the manager of a high-end rehabilitation center where a patient died, according to a new story from The Hollywood Reporter.

Earlier this month, former film director Erik Fleming plead guilty to two charges after the Department of Justice found he had sold Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, several ketamine vials in the days ahead of the “Friends” actor’s death in October of 2023.

Fleming was one of five people charged in connection with Perry’s fatal ketamine overdose.

Now, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Fleming was the program director and sober living manager of an upscale Bel-Air treatment center called Red Door at the time a 36-year-old patient named William Cooney died from an overdose in January 2021.

While Michael J. Plonsker, an attorney for Red Door, confirmed to THR that Fleming worked for the clinic at the time of Cooney’s death, he told the outlet that Fleming “was not at the facility on the day” Cooney died.

Plonsker otherwise declined to comment on Cooney’s death, citing federal health confidentiality rules.

He did assert that “Red Door and its founders bear no responsibility for his death” and that the facility operates at “the highest levels of client care.”

However, employees and clients who spoke to THR for a previous investigation into negligence and mismanagement at Red Door said that Cooney was able to obtain the drugs that killed him because the facility was not properly testing him or monitoring him for a potential relapse.

Fleming is said to be a longtime friend of actor Brooke Mueller, who reportedly cooperated with the investigation into Perry’s overdose and was dating Cooney at the time of his death.

Cooney’s former wife Sarah Morse told THR that his relationship with Mueller definitely marked a turning point in her ex-husband’s addiction.

“When I look back at when things truly began to unravel, it all started when he met Brooke Mueller, who also struggled with addiction,” she said to the outlet.

Morse added that it was Mueller, along with her friend Fleming, who “insisted” Cooney check into Red Door, despite the fact the facility was “notorious for its bad reputation.”

People close to Cooney told THR that after the Los Angeles Police Department concluded their investigation into Cooney’s death, friends and family continued to push law enforcement to scrutinize Red Door and its associates further, to no avail.

“I now wonder if Matthew Perry would be alive if William’s case had been given the attention that it deserved,” Amara Durham, a substance abuse counselor who worked with Cooney, told THR.

Need help with substance use disorder or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline.