A California doctor who supplied “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, becoming the first person to be sentenced in connection with the actor's overdose death.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia was one of five defendants indicted in a years-long federal investigation that examined how Perry acquired the dissociative anesthetic through an underground drug ring in Hollywood.
Perry, 54, was found dead in his Los Angeles home in 2023 after years of battling depression and addiction.
The actor's family asked the judge for a lengthy sentence, calling Plasencia “the culprit most” and detailing their efforts to understand why he repeatedly supplied Perry with drugs.
Perry's mother, Suzanne Morrison, was among several family members who spoke in court before Placencia's sentencing. She highlighted text messages included in court records in which Plasencia called Perry an “idiot” and questioned how much he was willing to pay for drugs.
She was emotional and spoke directly to Placencia. “There was nothing idiotic about this man,” his mother said, adding that the doctor took an oath to protect people and he had to protect her son.
Plasencia also spoke in court and addressed Perry's family, expressing both regret and remorse as his own mother cried in the seat behind him. Plasencia said he has a two-year-old son.
“I want to raise him right,” he said. “I’m also wondering how to explain this to him.”
He also apologized to Perry's family.
“I failed myself. There's no excuse. I can't undo what's been done. I know this. I had to protect him, like his mother said. I'm just really sorry.”
In addition to the prison sentence, US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett ordered the Santa Monica doctor to pay a $5,600 (£4,195) fine. After the verdict was pronounced, he was immediately taken into custody.
Placencia pleaded guilty in the summer to four ketamine distribution points. The charges carried a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, although prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three years in prison.
Four other defendants in the case, including another doctorPerry's assistant and the two men who provided the dose of ketamine that killed him also pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming months.
The sitcom star, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, vocals and publicity over the years with his struggles with depression and drug addiction.
Ahead of Wednesday's sentencing, Perry's family submitted letters, known as victim impact statements, to the judge for review before deciding on sentencing.
“Matthew’s recovery depended on you saying NO,” his father John and stepmother Debbie wrote in an emotional letter. “Your motives? I can't imagine. A doctor whose life is dedicated to helping people?”
The actor's family said the loss had left them “devastated” as their “next patriarch” was no longer there and accused Placencia, who was called a “jackal” by Perry's mother and stepfather, of repeatedly violating the Hippocratic Oath.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia is one of five people charged in Perry's overdose death. [Reuters]
His mother and stepfather Kate Morrison detailed in their victim impact statements how difficult it was to process the loss. They said Perry has spent time trying to recover and is hoping for another acting comeback.
“He wanted, needed, deserved… a third act. It was… in planning. And then, these jackals.”
In a letter to a judge last month, Plascencia apologized and said he took full responsibility for his actions and role in Perry's death. He explained that his medical clinic was struggling and, despite Perry seeing “signs of addiction”, the offer of “large sums of money was attractive”.
Plasencia also said he voluntarily gave up his medical license when he was arrested and abandoned his clinic and the profession that once defined him.
Ketamine has some hallucinogenic effects and should only be prescribed by a doctor.
The actor took legal, prescribed doses of the drug to treat depression, but then began wanting more than what he was given.
Court documents from the federal investigation show that this led him to several doctors and female prosecutors nicknamed “Queen of Ketamine” who supplied massive amounts of drugs and other drugs from her Los Angeles home, which authorities described as a “drug mall.”
Prosecutors allege that Plasencia, also known as “Dr. P,” injected Perry with ketamine at his home and in the parking lot of an aquarium in Long Beach, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles.
According to court documents submitted for the plea agreement, Plasencia taught Perry's assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who also pleaded guilty in the case, how to administer the drug and sold them extra vials so they could store them at home.
Prosecutors said that between September 30, 2023 and October 12, 2023, Plasencia sold Perry and his assistant twenty 5 ml (100 mg/ml) vials, ketamine lozenges and syringes.
They said Plasencia and the other defendants in the case “took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction problems to enrich themselves.”
