UPDATE: One of the doctors who dealt drugs to Matthew Perry just before the Friends star’s OD death over two years ago was sentenced today to 30 months in prison.
With Perry’s mother and half-sister in attendance, U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett hit Salvador Plasencia with 2.5 years behind bars and a $5,600 fine. Having entered a guilty plea back in the early summer, Plasencia was immediately taken into custody as Wednesday’s hearing concluded.
Plasencia, who called his client Perry a “moron” in texts with Dr. Mark Chavez of San Diego over providing and selling ketamine to the actor, who was fighting addiction, apologized today in court for his role in the Emmy winner’s death. “I failed him, I should have protected him,” he said of Perry.
Perry was found dead in his backyard hot tub on October 28, 2023.
Neither the prosecution nor Plasencia’s defense team got what they wanted entirely out of today’s DTLA hearing. The former wanted the physician to get 36 months (a.k.a. 3 years) prison time, while the latter sought probation.
Among other defendants in Perry’s death, Chavez, who pleaded guilty, is set to be sentenced on December 17.
PREVIOUSLY, JUNE 23 PM: The reverberations of Matthew Perry’s overdose death continued Wednesday when one of the doctors who supplied the Friends star with ketamine entered a long-expected guilty plea to four counts of distribution.
Following up on a deal with the feds last month, Dr. Salvador Plasencia showed up in Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett’s downtown Los Angeles courtroom this morning to formally enter his plea. Saying little beyond direct responses to the judge’s questioning, the Santa Monica physician, who called Perry a “moron” when the actor was his client, is looking at a long stretch behind bars when he is sentenced later this year.
“He will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for each count at his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for December 3,” said Ciaran McEvoy of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California. “He remains free on bond and has indicated through his lawyers that he intends to surrender his medical license within the next 30-45 days. We will have no further comment.”
To that, the lawyer for the soon-to-be ex-doctor did have a comment after this morning’s hearing.
“Dr. Plasencia is profoundly remorseful for the treatment decisions he made while providing ketamine to Matthew Perry,” attorney Debra White said. “He is fully accepting responsibility by pleading guilty to drug distribution. Dr. Plasencia intends to voluntarily surrender his medical license, acknowledging his failure to protect Mr. Perry, a patient who was especially vulnerable due to addiction.”
Plasencia could also end up paying more than $1 million in fines under the plea deal with prosecutors. Having said that, the feds made it clear in their June plea deal announcement that the ketamine dose that killed Perry was not from Plasencia.
Perry’s died on October 28, 2023 at the age of 54. His body was discovered in a hot tub at the rear of his Pacific Palisades home. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office in December 2023 said that Perry, who had a long and public battle with drugs and drinking, died from the “acute effects of ketamine.” An autopsy report additionally noted drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine — a drug used to treat opioid use disorder — as contributing to his death.
In May 2024, an LAPD spokesperson told Deadline that an open investigation into Perry’s death was underway with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
Of the individuals named by authorities in Perry’s death, Plasencia’s plea today leaves only Jasveen Sangha, aka the “Ketamine Queen,” remaining. With a trial set to start next month, Sangha, who has pleaded not guilty, faces charges of conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and more.
