Doctor who helped present ketamine to Matthew Perry avoids jail for function in Friends’ star dying

A doctor who helped provide ketamine to Matthew Perry has avoided prison time for his role in the Friends’ star’s death.

Mark Chavez was sentenced Tuesday to eight months of home confinement after Perry died in October 2023 due to a drug overdose.

The San Diego doctor acquired ketamine and gave it to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who then sold it to Perry in the months before he died at the age of 54. Plasencia was sentenced to two and half years in prison earlier this month for his role in Perry’s premature death.

Perry was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home by his personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who injected the actor with the ketamine that killed him, according to investigators.

In a text message exchange between Plasencia and Chavez, Plasencia called Perry a “moron.”

“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia asked Chavez a month before the actor died. “Lets find out.”

Federal prosecutors say Plasencia bought $795 worth of ketamine vials and tablets, syringes and gloves from Chavez. Plasencia then went to Perry’s home and injected him with the drug, and left at least one vial for Iwamasa, according to the Justice Department. The assistant paid Plasencia $4,500, prosecutors say.

The Justice Department announced in August that Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine Queen,” agreed to plead guilty to charges related to Perry’s death.

Sangha had worked with a man named Erik Fleming to distribute ketamine to Perry, whose struggles with drug addiction were well known. In October 2023, Sangha and Fleming sold Perry 51 vials of ketamine, which were given to Iwamasa.

Fleming, along with Iwamasa, also pleaded guilty to charges relating to Perry’s death. They will both be sentenced in January. Sangha will be sentenced in February.

This is a developing story…

Source: independent.co.uk