Doctor who supplied ketamine to Matthew Perry sentenced to 30 months in prison
Dr Salvador Plasencia, a Santa Monica-based doctor, admitted to four counts of distributing ketamine as part of a plea deal entered earlier this year.
A California physician who illegally supplied ketamine to Friends actor Matthew Perry in the months leading up to his death has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, becoming the first among five defendants to be punished in the high-profile overdose case.
Dr Salvador Plasencia, a Santa Monica-based doctor, admitted to four counts of distributing ketamine as part of a plea deal entered earlier this year. The charges, which carried a potential 40-year maximum sentence, followed a multiyear federal probe into an illicit drug network that allegedly catered to actors and entertainment insiders across Los Angeles.
US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also imposed a $5,600 fine, ordering Plasencia into immediate federal custody.
The sentencing hearing was marked by emotional victim-impact statements from Perry’s family, who described Plasencia as the “most culpable” among those charged.
Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, addressing the doctor directly in court, recalled text messages in which he referred to her son as a “moron” while discussing how much he could charge him for drugs.
“There was nothing moronic about that man,” she said tearfully. “You took an oath to protect people. You should have protected Matthew.”
Perry’s father, John, and stepmother, Debbie, wrote in a letter to the judge:
His mother and stepfather, Suzanne and Keith Morrison, described the doctor and others involved as “jackals”, saying Perry had been working toward a comeback and “deserved a third act”.
Plasencia, who appeared visibly shaken, apologised to Perry’s family and said he thinks often about how he will one day explain his actions to his two-year-old son.
“I failed myself. There is no excuse,” he told the court. “I can’t undo what’s been done. I should have protected him, as his mother said. I’m just so sorry.”
In a letter submitted last month, he admitted he saw Perry’s addiction warning signs but accepted “large sums of money” while his clinic was struggling financially. He has since surrendered his medical licence and shuttered his practice.
Court filings outline how Perry, who was already receiving medically supervised ketamine treatments for depression, began seeking additional doses through illicit channels.
Federal prosecutors say Plasencia:
repeatedly injected Perry with ketamine at his home
administered further doses in the parking lot of an aquarium in Long Beach
taught Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa (also charged), how to inject the drug
sold Perry and Iwamasa extra vials, ketamine lozenges and syringes
Officials say that between 30 September and 12 October 2023, Plasencia sold 20 vials of ketamine and related paraphernalia to the actor.
Investigators allege that Plasencia was part of a wider underground supply chain that included another doctor, his assistant, and two civilian suppliers—the latter led by a woman prosecutors have labelled the “Ketamine Queen”, whose Los Angeles home they described as a “drug-selling emporium.”
All four co-accused have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
Matthew Perry, 54, was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in late 2023. The Friends star had been public about his decades-long struggle with addiction and mental health, even founding a sober-living facility and writing a memoir chronicling his recovery journey.
Although he had legal prescriptions for ketamine, prosecutors argued that Plasencia and others “took advantage of Mr Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves”.
