Matthew Perry's Doctor Pleads Guilty to Providing Actor Lethal Ketamine Before Death
Dr. Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to distributing ketamine that led to 'Friends' star Matthew Perry's death.
The physician made his plea in a Monday agreement. Plasencia is one of the five people charged in Perry's October 2023 death. He faces up to 40 years in prison for the four counts of ketamine distribution.
Plasencia was charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine and other related offenses. In the agreement, he acknowledged that he provided Perry with ketamine without a legitimate medical purpose.
He is the fourth person to plead guilty in regard to Perry's death. The others are Dr. Mark Chavez, the actor's personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and Erik Fleming. Jasveen Sangha (a.k.a. 'The Ketamine Queen') has pleaded not guilty and is headed to trial in August.
Chavez entered a guilty plea of one federal count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and could face up to 10 years in prison. As for Iwamasa, Perry's assistant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death earlier this month and faces up to 15 years.
When Chavez made his guilty plea he admitted to diverting vials of the drug from his former ketamine clinic and selling it to Dr. Plasencia, who provided it to Perry in a broader illegal distribution scheme.
'Matthew Perry's journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday and it ended with street dealers who sold him ketamine in unmarked vials,' U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram said in a 2024 news conference.
She continued: 'The desperation that led Perry to these individuals was not met with help, as it should have been from the doctors, but instead it was met with exploitation.'
Perry was found dead in his hot tub on Oct. 28, 2023. His cause of death was ruled a ketamine overdose with drowning as a factor. He was 54.
The post Matthew Perry's Doctor Pleads Guilty to Providing Actor Lethal Ketamine Before Death appeared first on TheWrap.
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