Doctor who supplied ‘Friends' actor Matthew Perry with ketamine to plead guilty
A doctor accused of giving 'Friends' star Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to his fatal overdose has agreed to plead guilty, US prosecutors said on Monday.
Dr Salvador Plasencia will plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, according to the US Attorney's Office. The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 40 years. Plasencia is expected to formally enter his plea in the coming weeks, the Associated Press reported.
Perry, 54, was found dead in his hot tub on 28 October 2023. The medical examiner ruled that his death was caused by 'acute effects of ketamine.'
Though the actor had been receiving the drug legally through his regular physician as part of an off-label depression treatment, he began seeking higher quantities than his doctor was willing to provide. According to court filings cited by the AP, Plasencia stepped in around that time and contacted another doctor, Mark Chavez, to help procure ketamine.
'I wonder how much this moron will pay,' Plasencia texted Chavez, according to prosecutors. The two met that same day in Costa Mesa, California, where Chavez gave Plasencia four vials of ketamine.
Prosecutors said Plasencia then sold the drugs to Perry for $4,500 and even proposed becoming Perry's regular supplier, asking Chavez if he could 'keep supplying' so they could be the actor's 'go-to.'
As per the report by AP, Plasencia and a woman named Jasmine Sangha, described by prosecutors as a major ketamine dealer, had been the key targets in the case after three other defendants, including Chavez, entered plea deals and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
While Plasencia is believed to have supplied most of the ketamine Perry consumed in his final weeks, Sangha is alleged to have provided the fatal dose. She has pleaded not guilty and is set to go to trial in August, making her the only one of the five people charged who has not entered a plea agreement.
Perry had long struggled with addiction, dating back to his time as Chandler Bing on Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004.
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