A doctor who pleaded guilty to illegally supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the star’s death has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent-care clinic outside Los Angeles, is the first of five people to be sentenced in connection with the death of the Friends star, who was found drowned in the hot tub at his home after taking ketamine in October 2023.
“You and others helped Mr Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction,” Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett told him as she handed down the sentence. “You exploited Mr Perry’s addiction for your own profit.”
As Plasenica was led out in handcuffs, his mother cried loudly in the courtroom.
Ahead of the hearing, Perry’s mother and stepfather, Suzanne and Keith Morrison, described those involved in supplying ketamine to the star illegally as “jackals”, and said they believed Plasencia to be “among the most culpable of all“.
Plasencia was surrounded by photographers as he made his way into court. Pic: Reuters/ Mike Blake
The actor had been taking ketamine legally as a treatment for depression, but started seeking more of the drug illegally and taking it unsupervised in the weeks before his death, acquiring it from different sources.
Plasencia, 44, did not supply the dose that killed the actor, but had been distributing the surgical anesthetic to him in the weeks beforehand.
He initially denied the charges against him but changed his plea earlier this year, admitting four counts of distribution of the drug. He could have faced up to 40 years in prison had he been convicted at trial.
Court documents filed after he was charged showed details of a text message he sent to another doctor, who is also due to be sentenced, saying: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
“Rather than do what was best for Mr Perry – someone who had struggled with addiction for most of his life – [Plasencia] sought to exploit Perry’s medical vulnerability for profit,” the prosecution said in their sentencing memo.
Know as “Dr P”, he was introduced to the star by one of his own patients on 30 September 2023, prosecutors said. This patient said Perry was a “high profile person” who was willing to pay “cash and lots of thousands” for ketamine treatment, and the doctor was “motivated by the promise of a payday”.
Ahead of the hearing, Plasencia’s lawyers called his behaviour “reckless” and “the biggest mistake” of his life.
“Remorse cannot begin to capture the pain, regret and shame that Mr Plasencia feels for the tragedy that unfolded and that he failed to prevent,” they said.
Doctor ‘fed on vulnerability of our son’
Pic: Reuters 2009
In victim impact statements submitted to court, Perry’s mother and stepfather said Plasencia’s actions were not the result of “one very bad decision” or done “in the heat of passion”, and nor was he a drug dealer, “bad to the bone”. He was a doctor who people trusted, they said.
“No one alive and in touch with the world at all could have been unaware of Matthew’s struggles. But this doctor conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret. For what, a few thousand dollars? So he could feed on the vulnerability of our son.”
Suzanne Perry and Keith Morrison were in court for the hearing. Pic: Reuters/ Mike Blake
Perry’s father John and stepmother Debbie also shared a statement. They had called for a lengthy sentence, and said Plasencia’s actions had “devastated” their family.
“How long did you possibly see supplying Matthew countless doses without his death to eventually follow?” they asked. “Did you care? Did you think?”
Read more:
The drug network exposed by Perry’s death
Obituary: The one who made everyone laugh
Matthew Perry: A life in pictures
As well as the two-and-a-half years in prison, Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down two years of probation to Plasencia.
Perry had struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation playing Chandler Bing.
He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004, and appeared in the reunion show in 2021.
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