Dr. Salvador Plasencia, the California physician who sold ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the actor’s death, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. He is the first of five to be punished in connection with the “Friends” star’s 2023 overdose, according to court filings.
Doctor sentenced in Matthew Perry ketamine case
Plasencia, 44, pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing ketamine, a powerful anesthetic. He admitted he illegally supplied the drug to Perry even though he knew the actor was a longtime addict.
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From late September to mid-October 2023, prosecutors say Plasencia provided Perry with 20 vials of ketamine, ketamine lozenges and syringes. They said he sometimes left the drugs with Perry’s assistant, who had no medical training, adding he sometimes injected Perry himself, including in the back seat of a car in a public parking lot.
In one text message to another doctor about how much to charge Perry, Plasencia wrote, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “let’s find out,” according to court documents. Prosecutors said he ultimately charged Perry about $57,000.
Plasencia faced up to 40 years in prison under his plea agreement. Prosecutors asked for three years. His lawyers pushed for probation and no prison time, arguing he had already lost his license, clinic and career.
Instead, U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced him to 30 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. She also ordered a $5,600 fine and a $400 special assessment.
Judge: He ‘fed’ Perry’s addiction
At the hearing, Garnett stressed that Plasencia did not supply the specific dose of ketamine that killed Perry. However, she said his conduct still helped set the stage for the actor’s death, according to reporting from The New York Times and Associated Press.
“You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction,” she said. “You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit.”
Prosecutors echoed that view, calling Plasencia “a drug dealer in a white coat,” not a negligent doctor who simply made a mistake.
Perry’s family confronts the doctor
Several of Perry’s relatives spoke in court, including his mother, Suzanne, and his stepfather, “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison.
In a written victim impact statement filed earlier in the week, they called Plasencia “among the most culpable of all” the defendants. They said his actions were “truly hard to understand,” coming from a physician.
They wrote that Plasencia “conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret… So he could feed on the vulnerability of our son.”
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In court, Suzanne Perry addressed Plasencia directly, reminding him that her son was widely known for his generosity and humor. “This is my boy!” she said, rejecting the “moron” label he used in his texts. “There is nothing moronic about this man.”
When asked by reporters when leaving court if he agreed with the judge’s sentence, Morrison responded, “Does it matter? No, not really. Look, it’s a tragic story, and, you know, sometimes apparently nice guys do bad things and the legal system has to take account of it.”
Plasencia apologizes: ‘I failed Mr. Perry’
Plasencia appeared shaken during the hearing, wiping his brow and eventually breaking down in tears, according to reports.
Pleasencia told the judge, “I failed Mr. Perry. I failed him.” He added, “I failed his family… I should have protected him.” He said that he dreads the day he will have to explain to his young son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son.”
His lawyers said in a statement that he accepts the sentence with “humility and deep remorse.” They added that he hopes the case will serve as a warning to other doctors.
Four other defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming months.
Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on “Friends,” was 54 when he was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023.
The medical examiner ruled he died from the acute effects of ketamine. Drowning, coronary artery disease and another drug also contributed to his death.
