Doctor sentenced to 30 months for illegally supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California physician who admitted to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the “Friends” star’s fatal overdose was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in federal prison.

Salvador Plasencia, 42, pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing ketamine without a legitimate medical purpose. U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett imposed the 2½-year term after Plasencia told the court, “I failed Matthew Perry. I should have protected him. … I’m just so sorry.”

Prosecutors said Plasencia injected Perry with ketamine multiple times and sold him roughly 20 vials of the drug for approximately $55,000 in September and October 2023, knowing the actor was struggling with addiction. In one text message to a co-defendant the day he first met Perry, Plasencia wrote, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled Perry’s Oct. 28, 2023, death accidental, caused primarily by the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects listed as contributing factors. Ketamine levels in Perry’s blood were in the range used for general anesthesia.

Plasencia, who formerly operated Malibu Canyon Urgent Care, has surrendered his medical license and was ordered to pay a $5,600 fine. He had asked for probation, citing the end of his medical career and the relocation of his family to Arizona amid public backlash.

In a statement read in court, Perry’s mother, Suzanne, and stepfather, Keith Morrison, called Plasencia “among the most culpable of all,” saying he “conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret. For what, a few thousand dollars?”

Jasveen Sangha, known in the indictment as the “Ketamine Queen,” has also pleaded guilty in the case and awaits sentencing. Three others — Perry’s personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, Dr. Mark Chavez and middleman Erik Fleming — have entered guilty pleas as well.

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