Dr. Salvador Plasencia, the physician accused of illegally supplying Friends star Matthew Perry with ketamine in the weeks before the actor’s fatal overdose in October 2023, pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of distribution of ketamine in federal court in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press.
Plasencia is now the fourth of five individuals charged in connection with the case to plead guilty. Three other co-defendants — including Perry’s personal assistant and two others — previously pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors. None have been sentenced.
Standing beside his attorney, Plasencia, 43, responded to a series of questions from U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett during the hearing.
Asked whether his legal team had fully reviewed his options, Plasencia replied, “They’ve considered everything.” He spoke only to answer procedural questions during the brief court appearance, per the AP.
Plasencia's plea agreement allows him to avoid trial, which had been scheduled to begin in August. In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to drop three additional counts of ketamine distribution and two counts of falsifying records.
Prosecutors clarified in court that the physician did not supply the specific dose that killed Perry. However, the government accused Plasencia of providing Perry with large quantities of ketamine during the month leading up to his death and of continuing to provide the drug even after adverse effects became evident.
According to the plea agreement, Plasencia administered one injection that caused Perry’s blood pressure to spike and left him physically immobilized. Despite this, the doctor left additional doses for Perry’s assistant to administer later.
Perry, 54, was found dead in his Los Angeles home. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled ketamine toxicity as the primary cause of death.
Perry had reportedly been undergoing legal, off-label ketamine treatment for depression, but had begun seeking higher doses than his licensed provider would administer.
Plasencia acknowledged that he enlisted another physician, Dr. Mark Chavez, to obtain some of the drugs he'd provided to Perry.
Chavez, who also pleaded guilty, provided text messages in which Plasencia referred to Perry as a “moron” and discussed using the actor to make money. “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia wrote, according to court documents.
After charging Perry $4,500 for the drugs, Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez to continue the supply chain so they could become Perry’s “go-to,” prosecutors said.
Plasencia has been free on bond since his arrest in August 2024 and will remain out of custody until his sentencing on December 3. He faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, although the terms of the plea deal suggest a lesser sentence is likely.
The only remaining defendant in the case is Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors allege is the drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen.”
Sangha is accused of providing the lethal dose that killed Perry. Sangha has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial next month.
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