Doctor Who Mocked Perry in Texts Sentenced

UPDATE Dec 3, 2025 4:33 PM CST

A physician who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star's overdose death was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison on Wednesday. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to 44-year-old Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, the AP reports. The judge emphasized that Plasencia didn't provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him, "You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction." She added: "You exploited Mr. Perry's addiction for your own profit." As part of his plea deal, Plasencia gave up his medical license in September, per the Washington Post.

• Plasencia was the first to be sentenced of the five defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry's death at age 54 in 2023. The doctor admitted to taking advantage of Perry, knowing he was a struggling addict. Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a "moron" who could be exploited for money, according to court filings

Jul 23, 2025 1:35 PM CDT

A doctor pleaded guilty Wednesday to giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the Friends star's overdose death. Dr. Salvador Plasencia became the fourth of the five people charged in connection with Perry's death to plead guilty. He admitted guilt to Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in federal court in Los Angeles, the AP reports. Plasencia, 43, was to have gone on trial in August until the doctor agreed last month to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, according to the signed document filed in federal court in Los Angeles. He had previously pleaded not guilty, but in exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors have agreed to drop three additional counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of falsifying records.

• Prosecutors outlined the charges in court before the plea, and said, as Plasencia's lawyers have emphasized, that he did not sell Perry the dose that killed the actor.
• The charges can carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and there is no guarantee Plasencia will get less, but he's likely to, reports the AP. He has been free on bond since shortly after his arrest in August, and will be allowed to remain free until his Dec. 3 sentencing.
• The only remaining defendant who has not reached an agreement with the US Attorney's Office is Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors allege is a drug dealer known as the "Ketamine Queen" and sold Perry the lethal dose. Her trial is scheduled to begin next month.

• Plasencia admitted in his plea agreement that another patient connected him with Perry, and that starting about a month before Perry's death, he illegally supplied the actor with 20 vials of ketamine totaling 100mg of the drug, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes.
• He admitted to enlisting another doctor, Mark Chavez, to supply the drug for him, according to the court filings. "I wonder how much this moron will pay," Plasencia texted Chavez, according to Chavez's plea agreement. After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry's "go-to," prosecutors said.