The doctor who gave actor Matthew Perry doses of ketamine before he overdosed and drowned in the hot tub of his LA home has pleaded guilty to playing a part in his death.
When Dr. Salvador Plasencia arrived in federal court on Wednesday, he remained largely silent for almost an hour while the judge reviewed the plea deal.
Plasencia, who was frequently called ‘Dr. P’ was facing a possible 40-year prison sentence had he not taken the plea deal.
He is expected to return to court on December 3 for sentencing and will face up to 10 years in federal prison.
When asked by the judge if he and his lawyers had considered all the possibilities of pleas and sentencing in the case, the 43-year-old physician replied, ‘They’ve considered everything.’
He had previously entered a not guilty plea, but prosecutors agreed to dismiss two counts of fabricating records and three more counts of distributing ketamine in return for his guilty admissions.
The Santa Monica doctor is the fourth person who was indicted on criminal charges in connection with the Friends star’s death on Oct. 28, 2023.
Jasveen Sangha, who was known to her customers as the ‘Ketamine Queen’, is the only defendant who has not chosen to take a plea deal in relation to the actor’s death. She is slated to return to court on August 19.
Sangha remains in custody in Los Angeles awaiting trial.
Others who have pleaded guilty include Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who found the actor’s lifeless body in his hot tub.
The LA County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the actor — who had battled substance abuse problems throughout his life — died of ‘acute effects of ketamine.’
Perry had been receiving ketamine infusion therapy as treatment for his depression, but the last session was a week and a half before he died, the medical examiner determined.
Since ketamine only lasts in the body for three to four hours, it was not the immediate cause of his demise.
‘At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,’ the medical examiner, Raffi Djabourian, concluded.
Two others — physician Mark Chavez, of San Diego and Erik Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne — also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.
In his plea agreement, Plasencia revealed he met Perry through another patient who connected him with Perry.
He admitted supplying Perry with 20 vials of ketamine, totalling 100 mg of the drug, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes roughly a month before the actor’s demise.
He also admitted enlisting Dr. Chavez, who provided the drugs. In court papers, Plasencia texted Chavez: ‘I wonder how much this moron will pay,’ referring to Perry.
Federal prosecutors said Plasencia sold the drugs to the actor for $4,500. He also told Chavez to keep the supplies coming so they could become the actor’s ‘go-to’.
Perry, who had long struggled with addiction and staying sober, told Iwamasa to procure illegal drugs for him in late September 2023.
Iwamasa allegedly obtained the ketamine he gave to Perry from Plasencia and Fleming. The assistant reportedly met with Plasencia at least seven times between September 30 and October 28, 2023.
On the day of his death, Perry reportedly told Iwamasa to ‘shoot me up with a big one,’ and was injected with ketamine by the assistant three times, according to his plea agreement.
Prosecutors allege Iwamasa also began obtaining ketamine for Perry from Fleming and Sangha beginning in mid-October 2023.
After discussing prices with Iwamasa, Fleming allegedly coordinated the drug sales with Sangha and brought cash from Iwamasa to Sangha’s stash house in North Hollywood.
On October 24, 2023, Fleming allegedly told Iwamasa that the ketamine was ‘on its way to our girl,’ referring to Sangha.
Prosecutors allege Sangha distributed ketamine and other illegal drugs from her stash house in North Hollywood since 2019.
Matthew Perry went to rehab 15 times as part of his struggle with addiction. He was open about his struggles with alcohol and drug abuse, including cocaine and Vicodin, and his journey involved numerous rehab stays, as well as time in detox and various surgeries. He also spent an estimated $9 million on his efforts to get sober.
It takes a lot of effort and connections to seek out illegal sources for your addiction consciously.
You can have all the drugs money can buy, but at the end of the day, only a person decides to take or not to take drugs.
In May 2000, he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre with alcohol-induced pancreatitis.
In 2002, Perry said that although he had made efforts not to drink on the set of Friends, he did arrive with extreme hangovers and sometimes would shake or sweat excessively on set.
Based on the fact that Perry told Iwamasa, ‘Shoot me up with a big one.’ Perhaps he wanted to die because depression is indeed a serious and debilitating mental health disorder, frequently described as a ‘horrible disease’ due to its deep impact on an individual’s life.
It’s characterised by endless sadness, loss of interest in activities, and a range of other symptoms that can seriously interfere with day-to-day functioning.
Depression is not a sign of weakness, and treatments are available to help people manage the effects of depression; sadly, they don’t always work.
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