A doctor who pleaded guilty to illegally supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the star’s death has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent-care clinic outside Los Angeles, is the first of five people to be sentenced in connection with the death of the Friends actor. Perry was found drowned in the hot tub at his home after taking ketamine in October 2023.
“You and others helped Mr Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction,” Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett told Plasencia as she handed down the sentence. “You exploited Mr Perry’s addiction for your own profit.”
Matthew Perry died in 2023. Pic: Reuters
During the hearing, Plasencia broke into tears as he spoke about the day he would have to tell his now two-year-old son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son”. Apologising directly to Perry’s family, he said: “I should have protected him.”
The doctor’s mother cried loudly in the courtroom as he was led out in handcuffs.
Ahead of the sentencing, Perry’s mother Suzanne Perry and stepfather Keith Morrison described those involved in supplying ketamine to the star illegally as “jackals”, and said they believed Plasencia to be “among the most culpable of all“.
The actor had been taking ketamine legally as a treatment for depression, but started seeking more of the drug and taking it unsupervised in the weeks before his death, acquiring it illegally from different sources.
Plasencia, 44, did not supply the dose that killed the actor, but had been distributing the surgical anesthetic to him in the weeks beforehand.
He initially denied the charges against him but changed his plea earlier this year, admitting four counts of distribution. He could have faced up to 40 years in prison had he been convicted at trial.
Plasencia was surrounded by photographers as he made his way into court. Pic: Reuters/ Mike Blake
Doctor ‘fed on vulnerability’
Court documents showed details of a text message Plasencia sent to another doctor, who is also due to be sentenced, saying: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
“Rather than do what was best for Mr Perry – someone who had struggled with addiction for most of his life – [Plasencia] sought to exploit Perry’s medical vulnerability for profit,” the prosecution said in its sentencing memo.
Known as “Dr P”, Plasencia was introduced to Perry by one of his own patients on 30 September 2023, prosecutors said. This patient said the actor was a “high profile person” who was willing to pay “cash and lots of thousands” for ketamine treatment, and the doctor was “motivated by the promise of a payday”.
Plasencia’s lawyers admitted his behaviour was “reckless” and said it was “the biggest mistake” of his life.
“Remorse cannot begin to capture the pain, regret and shame that Mr Plasencia feels for the tragedy that unfolded and that he failed to prevent,” they said.
Star’s family share emotional statements
Suzanne Perry and Keith Morrison were in court for the hearing. Pic: Reuters/ Mike Blake
During the hearing, Perry’s mother Suzanne addressed the court to talk about everything he had overcome in his life.
“I used to think he couldn’t die,” she said, supported by her husband.
“You called him a ‘moron’,” she said to Plasencia. “There is nothing moronic about that man.”
In victim impact statements submitted to court, she and her husband said Plasencia’s actions were not the result of “one very bad decision” or done “in the heat of passion”, and nor was he a “bad to the bone” drug dealer.
They added: “No one alive and in touch with the world at all could have been unaware of Matthew’s struggles. But this doctor conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret. For what, a few thousand dollars? So he could feed on the vulnerability of our son.”
Perry appeared in Friends: The Reunion alongside his former co-stars in 2021. Pic: Sky/ Warner Media/ HBO
“The world mourns my brother,” Perry’s half-sister Madeleine Morrison said. “He was everyone’s favourite friend.”
Perry’s father John and stepmother Debbie had called for a lengthy sentence, and said Plasencia’s actions had “devastated” their family.
“How long did you possibly see supplying Matthew countless doses without his death to eventually follow?” they asked. “Did you care? Did you think?”
Read more:
The drug network exposed by Perry’s death
Obituary: The one who made everyone laugh
Matthew Perry: A life in pictures
As well as the prison sentence, Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down two years of probation to Plasencia.
The other four people charged in connection with Perry’s death have also accepted plea deals and are due to be sentenced over the next few months.
They are: dealer Jasveen Sangha, also known as “the Ketamine Queen”, Perry’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, another doctor, Mark Chavez, and Erik Fleming, an associate of the actor.
Tributes were left in LA and New York following the actor’s death. Pic: Reuters
Perry had struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation playing Chandler Bing.
He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004, and appeared in the reunion show in 2021.
