Doctor charged in Matthew Perry death sentenced to 30 months for providing ketamine to actor

One of the two doctors charged with distributing ketamine to “Friends” star Matthew Perry, weeks before his overdose death, has been sentenced.

Salvador Plasencia was sentenced in a Los Angeles federal court on Wednesday to 30 months in prison for supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry and his assistant. Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of illegally distributing ketamine to Perry. 

Perry, 54, was found unresponsive and floating face-down in a jacuzzi at his LA home on Oct. 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined he died from the “acute effects of ketamine,” with contributing factors including drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine, which is a medication used to treat opioid use disorder.

In his plea agreement, Plasencia admitted that about a month before Perry’s death, he illegally supplied the actor with 20 vials of ketamine, which totaled 100 mg, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes. The doctor also admitted to enlisting another doctor, Mark Chavez, to supply the drug for him, according to the court documents.

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.

“While Dr. Plasencia was not treating Mr. Perry at the time of his death, he hopes his case serves as a warning to other medical professionals and leads to stricter oversight and clear protocols for the rapidly growing at-home ketamine industry in order to prevent future tragedies like this,” Plasencia’s attorneys said in a statement.

Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine Queen,” who is charged with supplying the drugs that caused Perry’s death, is expected to be sentenced on Dec. 10. In August, Sangha previously pleaded guilty to three counts of distribution of ketamine, one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises.

Chavez is expected to be sentenced on Dec.17 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

Perry’s former live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, and Erik Fleming, a Hawthorne man federal authorities have described as a street dealer who acted as a middleman, have sentencing dates scheduled January 2026.