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A California doctor was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Wednesday for illegally supplying Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s drug overdose death in 2023.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent-care clinic outside Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in federal court in July to four felony counts of illegal distribution of the prescription anesthetic. He could have faced up to 40 years in prison had he been convicted at trial.
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett to sentence Plasencia, 44, to three years in prison after a plea agreement where the doctor admitted to illegally selling Perry large amounts of ketamine.
He was not accused of selling the Friends sitcom star the dose that investigators say killed him on Oct. 28, 2023.
Perry had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a treatment for depression. But when his regular doctor wouldn’t provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling to Perry even though he knew he was a struggling addict.
According to court filings, Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a “moron” who could be exploited for money.
“Rather than do what was best for Mr. Perry — someone who had struggled with addiction for most of his life — defendant sought to exploit Perry’s medical vulnerability for profit,” the prosecution’s sentencing memo said.
An autopsy report shows that actor Matthew Perry died of ‘acute effects’ of ketamine. Perry — who struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for decades — was found dead at his home in October.
Plasencia’s lawyers tried to paint a sympathetic portrait of him in their memo, as a man who rose out of poverty to become a doctor beloved by his patients, some of whom provided testimonials about him for the court.
His attorneys called his selling to Perry “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,” the memo said.
Doctor pleaded guilty
But, the lawyers wrote, “a sentence of imprisonment is neither necessary nor warranted. He has already lost his medical licence, his clinic, and his career. He has also been viciously attacked in the media and threatened by strangers to the point where his family has moved out of state for their safety.”
Plasencia’s lawyers said he has moved to Arizona with his wife and two-year-old son.
“I want him to be proud of his father,” Plasencia said in a video he and his lawyers made for the judge. “I made mistakes, but I want him to know that I tried to make better choices after my mistakes.”
Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine.
Prosecutors agreed to drop five different counts. The agreement came with no sentencing guarantees, and legally, Garnett could have given him up to 40 years.
The other four defendants who reached deals to plead guilty will be sentenced at their own hearings in the coming months.
Perry died at age 54 after struggling with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred on NBC’s megahit alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004.
