Los Angeles, USA – June 16, 2025 – The primary doctor charged in connection with the drug overdose death of American-Canadian actor and “Friends” star Matthew Perry is expected to enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Monday.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia “has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison,” the department said in a statement. Under a plea agreement, Plasencia faces a potential sentence of 15 to 21 months in prison, though the judge retains the power to impose the statutory maximum. Prosecutors allege Plasencia repeatedly supplied Perry with ketamine without legitimate medical reason, even injecting the actor in his car and leaving drugs with his untrained assistant. He is accused of selling 20 vials of ketamine, lozenges, and syringes to Perry.
The second doctor implicated in the case, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty last October to conspiring to distribute ketamine in the weeks before the actor was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in October 2023. Chavez admitted to obtaining ketamine through a fraudulent prescription and selling it to Plasencia, knowing it was intended for Perry.
Perry’s long-documented struggles with substance addiction were well-known, but his death at age 54 sent shockwaves through the global fanbase of “Friends.” A criminal investigation was launched shortly after an autopsy revealed high levels of ketamine—an anesthetic—in his system.
Plasencia allegedly acquired ketamine from Chavez and then sold it to the actor at significantly inflated prices. Jasveen Sangha, dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” and accused of supplying drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, is charged with selling Perry the dose that ultimately caused his death. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in August.
The beloved comedic television series “Friends,” which depicted the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating, and careers, garnered a massive global following and propelled its previously unknown actors to superstardom. Perry’s portrayal of the sarcastic Chandler Bing brought him immense wealth, yet it concealed a private battle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol. In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries. In his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry candidly described undergoing dozens of detox attempts, stating he had “mostly been sober since 2001, save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps.”
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