A California doctor was sentenced to 2½ years in prison Wednesday for illegally providing ketamine to “Friends” actor Matthew Perry, whose 2023 drug overdose death was linked to the sedative.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who operated an urgent-care clinic near Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in July to four felony counts of illegal distribution of the anesthetic. He faced a maximum sentence of up to 40 years.
Perry, 54, was found floating face down and unresponsive in the jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28, 2023. Authorities said an autopsy determined he died from the “acute effects of ketamine,” which, combined with other factors, caused him to lose consciousness and drown.
Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects that is sometimes prescribed for depression and other psychiatric conditions, but it is also widely abused recreationally.
As part of his plea, Plasencia admitted injecting Perry with ketamine multiple times in the weeks before the actor’s death, including at Perry’s home and once in the back seat of a parked car. Plasencia surrendered his medical license in September.
Federal officials said Perry had received ketamine infusions at a clinic for depression and anxiety and became addicted. When that clinic refused to increase his dose, prosecutors say Perry sought out unscrupulous providers willing to exploit his dependency for profit.
Plasencia told investigators he was introduced to Perry through a patient and obtained the ketamine from co-defendant Dr. Mark Chavez of San Diego. Court filings include a text Plasencia sent Chavez about Perry: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.” Within weeks, prosecutors say, Perry received ketamine from another co-defendant known as the “Ketamine Queen” and was injected by his personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, leading to the fatal overdose.
U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced Plasencia to 30 months in prison and fined him $5,600, telling the doctor, “You and others helped Mr. Perry stay on the road to such an ending while continuing to feed his addiction.”
Plasencia spoke in court and expressed remorse, saying he took full responsibility. “I failed Mr. Perry, I failed his family, and I failed the community,” he said, then addressed Perry’s relatives, “I’m just so sorry.”
Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, delivered a victim impact statement, invoking doctors’ oaths and confronting Plasencia directly: “I want you to see this is the mother,” she said, calling what happened “a bad thing to do.”
Four other defendants — Chavez, 55; Iwamasa, 60; Jasveen Sangha, 42, aka the “Ketamine Queen”; and intermediary dealer Erik Fleming, 56 — have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death and are scheduled for sentencing in the coming weeks.
