Doctor agrees to plead guilty in connection with Matthew Perry's death
A doctor, accused of providing ketamine to 'Friends' actor Matthew Perry, has agreed to plead guilty, according to a plea agreement filed Monday. Perry died of a drug overdose and was found unresponsive in his hot tub in October 2023. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
June 16 (UPI) -- A doctor, accused of providing ketamine to "Friends" star Matthew Perry, has agreed to plead guilty in connection with the actor's death, according to court documents filed Monday.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia is expected to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, per the plea agreement. The Santa Monica, Calif., physician could face up to 40 years in federal prison, while the recommended sentence in the agreement is somewhere between 15 and 21 months.
Plasencia, who is expected to enter his plea in the next few weeks, was one of five people charged in connection with Perry's ketamine death in October 2023. Perry, 54, was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home.
Plasencia would not be the first to plead guilty in connection with Perry's death. A second doctor charged in the case, Dr. Mark Chavez, previously agreed to a plea deal.
According to Monday's plea agreement, Plasencia admitted to working with Chavez and sold "twenty 5ml vials of ketamine, less than a full package of ketamine lozenges, and syringes," to Perry's personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.
Former U.S. attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada said at the time he filed charges that Plasencia was looking to make a profit off of Perry and wanted to become his sole supplier.
"I wonder how much this moron will pay?" Estrada said Plasencia wrote in September 2023, one month before Perry's death.
Iwamasa and Erik Fleming, who according to prosecutors brokered the drug deals, have also pleaded guilty. The fifth defendant, Jasveen Sangha, continues to fight drug dealing charges. Her trial is scheduled for August.
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