Dr Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to distributing ketamine to the late Friends star Matthew Perry.
The physician, known as “Dr P”, was one of five people charged over the death of the actor. Four have now pleaded guilty.
The others are Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who injected him on the day of his death according to court filings; San Diego ketamine clinic owner Dr Mark Chavez; and Erik Fleming, who pled guilty to providing Perry with ketamine.
The fifth, Jasveen Sangha, is an alleged dealer who has been referred to as the “ketamine queen”. She is pleading not guilty.
The LA Times reports that after entering the plea agreement for four counts of distribution of ketamine, Dr Plasencia faces up to 40 years in prison.
On October 28, 2023, Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his home. A medical examiner later ruled that ketamine was his primary cause of death.
The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.
According to prosecutors, Dr Plasencia was not only involved in supplying ketamine to Perry outside the scope of his professional practice, he also taught Iwamasa how to inject the actor with the drug.
Authorities have suggested that Dr Plasencia saw Perry as a cash cow, citing text messages he sent to Chavez about a month before the actor’s death. “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” he wrote in one. “Let’s find out,” he wrote in another.
At the beginning of October 2023, the indictment says Iwamasa texted Dr Plasencia an order for eight vials of ketamine, referring to them as “8 bottles of dr pepper.”
On October 12, Dr Plasencia injected Perry with “a large dose of ketamine” that unexpectedly caused the actor to “freeze up,” and spiked his blood pressure, rattling the doctor, according to the indictment.
When Dr Plasencia began having supply issues, Perry’s go-betweens branched out to Sangha, who said she had a “master chef” cooking up ketamine for her, the indictment states. And since Perry bought a lot of her product, Sangha provided him with ketamine lollipops as an “add-on,” according to the indictment.
In the days leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa administered at least 15 shots of ketamine to him, all of which were supplied by Sangha, according to the indictment. It says Iwamasa gave Perry the final three doses of ketamine purchased from Sangha, using needles provided by Plasencia, on October 28, the day he died.
Sangha’s trial, originally scheduled for March, is now set to commence in August.
If you have been affected by this article, you can contact the following organisations for support: actiononaddiction.org.uk, mind.org.uk, nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth, mentalhealth.org.uk.
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