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.
Plasencia, who has since given up his medical licence, according to his lawyers, initially denied the charges 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.
Perry 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 is not accused of selling the dose that killed the actor, but had been supplying the surgical anesthetic to him in the weeks beforehand.
Court documents filed after he was charged show the 44-year-old sent a text message 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.
Plasencia 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, his 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'
In victim impact statements, 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".
His 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", they said. Plasencia was a doctor who people trusted.
"No one alive and in touch with the world at all could have been unaware of Matthew's struggles," they said. "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."
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
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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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