LOS ANGELES (CNS) – One of two physicians charged in connection with “Friends” star Matthew Perry’s death from ketamine overdose in October 2023 is expected to plead guilty Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles to federal charges of illegal distribution of the surgical anesthetic.
Salvador Plasencia, 42, of Santa Monica, has agreed to enter his plea before a federal judge to four counts of distribution of ketamine, court papers show.
A total of five defendants have been charged in Perry’s death. Three of them have previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine and await sentencing.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in late September 2023, Plasencia learned that Perry, a successful actor whose history of drug addiction was well documented, was interested in obtaining ketamine. Ketamine is a general anesthetic whose medical risks require a health care professional to monitor a patient being administered the drug.
After learning about Perry’s interest in ketamine, Plasencia contacted San Diego physician Mark Chavez — who previously operated a ketamine clinic — to obtain ketamine to sell to Perry, prosecutors said.
In text messages to Chavez, Plasencia discussed how much to charge Perry for the ketamine, stating, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Let’s find out,” according to federal prosecutors.
During September and October of 2023, Plasencia distributed ketamine to Perry and Kenneth Iwamasa — the actor’s live-in assistant — “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose” on at least seven occasions, the indictment states.
The indictment also says that Plasencia conspired with Chavez about inventory, price, and availability of ketamine to sell to Perry and Iwamasa. Chavez, in turn, sold Plasencia orally administered ketamine lozenges that he obtained after writing a fraudulent prescription in a patient’s name without her knowledge or consent, and lied to wholesale ketamine distributors to buy additional vials of liquid ketamine that Chavez intended to sell to Plasencia for distribution to Perry, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Perry was paying $2,000 per vial of ketamine, while his dealers were paying $12 for each vial.
Perry’s 2022 best-selling memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” discusses his years-long struggle with addiction. The “Friends” star, who played the character Chandler Bing in the series, says he went through detox dozens of times.
Perry was found dead Oct. 28. 2023, in a hot tub behind his Pacific Palisades home of a fatal ketamine overdose. He was 54. The five defendants were charged in August 2024 in connection with the death.
Chavez, 54, of San Diego, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court in October 2024 to conspiring to distribute the anesthetic ketamine. He is expected to be sentenced Sept. 17.
Iwamasa, 59, of Toluca Lake, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, and admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including performing multiple injections on Perry on the day the actor died. He is set for sentencing Nov. 19.
Alleged ketamine dealer Jasveen Sangha, 41, of North Hollywood — dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” by prosecutors — faces trial next month on charges of conspiracy, maintaining a drug-involved premises, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and other counts. The superseding indictment contends that Sangha’s distribution of ketamine on Oct. 24, 2023, caused Perry’s death.
Erik Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Fleming admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry. He further admitted to obtaining the ketamine from Sangha and to distributing 50 vials of ketamine to Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Iwamasa — half of them four days before Perry’s death. Fleming is expected to be sentenced on Nov. 12.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, using Plasencia-provided instructions and syringes, Iwamasa injected Perry with the ketamine that was sold to him by Fleming and Sangha, including on Oct. 28, 2023, when Perry died at home after receiving multiple ketamine injections.
Plasencia sold the ketamine to Iwamasa despite being informed at least one week earlier that Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiraling out of control, according to federal prosecutors.
After Perry’s death was reported in the media, Sangha allegedly texted Fleming, “Delete all our messages,” court papers show.
Once he pleads guilty, Plasencia will face up to 40 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of at least $2 million, according to his plea agreement.
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