Doctor to plead guilty in case of Matthew Perry’s death from ketamine
A doctor charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death has agreed to plead guilty to multiple drug charges, according to court documents filed Monday.
Salvador Plasencia, known as Dr. P., was one of the five people charged in August 2024 after an investigation into the actor’s death. Plasencia faces a maximum sentence of up to 40 years in prison on four counts of distribution of ketamine, according to the filing.
Before the plea agreement, Plasencia was scheduled to face trial in August. His attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Three suspects charged in the case, including Perry’s other physician Mark Chavez, Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and an acquaintance of Perry, Erik Fleming, all pleaded guilty to charges in October. Jasveen Sangha, the so-called “Ketamine Queen” who allegedly supplied drugs to Perry’s assistant, pleaded not guilty.
Perry was found dead in his hot tub in October 2023. In December of that year, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office revealed that the actor had died of the acute effects of ketamine, ruling the death an accident. There were no signs of foul play.
In August 2024, five suspects were charged in connection to Perry’s death, with authorities accusing the suspects of exploiting Perry’s longtime struggles with drug addiction – which had been documented in the media and by Perry in his memoir – for profit.
“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in an August 2024 statement. “Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people’s lives over greed.”
According to the Justice Department, Plasencia had learned that Perry saw ketamine as a treatment for depression and anxiety. Plasencia contacted the physician Chavez, who ran a ketamine clinic. The two then coordinated how they planned to distribute the drugs to Perry, with Plasencia allegedly texting Chavez: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.” Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to Plasencia in a plea agreement.
Anne Milgram, then the chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration, described Chavez and Plasencia as doctors looking for a “payday.”
Plasencia allegedly injected ketamine into Perry on more than one occasion and “left additional liquid ketamine and ketamine lozenges” with Iwamasa, who “did not have medical training and would be administering the ketamine” to Perry, according to court documents. He was allegedly paid thousands of dollars at a time, the filing says.
Plasencia began providing ketamine to Perry shortly before his death, but authorities allege the doses that caused Perry’s death were provided by Fleming and Sangha, not Plasencia.
Perry’s death came after the “Friends” star struggled with alcohol and drug addiction throughout his career, writing in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” that he spent millions on various detox treatments to combat his addiction.
The actor was most well known for his decade-long stint on NBC’s “Friends” as Chandler Bing, which earned him an Emmy nomination for best lead actor in a comedy series. He was also was nominated for a pair of Emmys for his role on NBC’s “The West Wing.” Outside of television, Perry was top billing for a handful of comedy films, including “Fools Rush In” (1997) with Salma Hayek, the crime comedy “The Whole Nine Yards” (2000) alongside Bruce Willis, and “17 Again” (2009) with Zac Efron.