A former physician who supplied ketamine to \u201cFriends\u201d star Matthew Perry in the weeks leading up to the actor\u2019s death was sentenced Wednesday to serve 30 months \u2014 about two and a half years \u2014 in federal prison.<\/p>\n
Salvador Plasencia, known to Perry as \u201cDr. P,\u201d according to court filings, appeared before a federal judge Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles. He immediately surrendered after the hearing to begin serving his time. His mother, sitting in the courtroom audience, sobbed and sank to her knees as she watched him get handcuffed.<\/p>\n
Plasencia was also sentenced to two years of supervised release.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and others helped Mr. Perry stay on the road to such an ending by helping feed his ketamine addiction,\u201d U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett told Plasencia. \u201cYou took a Hippocratic oath to do no harm, but you did harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plasencia pleaded guilty to four felony counts of ketamine distribution in July. He was one of five people charged last year in connection with Perry\u2019s death in October 2023.<\/p>\n
During an emotional two-hour sentencing hearing, Perry\u2019s mother, stepmother and two sisters detailed their devastating loss. Suzanne Morrison, Perry\u2019s mother, spoke directly to Plasencia, telling him she used to think her son \u201ccould never die.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my boy,\u201d she told Plasencia. \u201cI just want you to see his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a bad thing you did,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI failed Mr. Perry. I failed him. I failed his family. I failed the community,\u201d Plasencia said soon after. \u201cI should have protected him. It was my oath to protect him.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told the court he thought of how he would eventually have to explain to his own son, who is 2 years old, about the day \u201cI didn\u2019t protect a mother\u2019s son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plasencia then turned to Perry\u2019s family, telling them: \u201cI\u2019m sorry. I\u2019m just so sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Plasencia to three years, acknowledging that Plasencia did not provide the ketamine that killed the actor. But, the prosecutors said in a sentencing memo, the doctor\u2019s \u201cegregious breaches of trust and abandonment of his oath to \u2018do no harm\u2019 undoubtedly contributed to the harm that Mr. Perry suffered.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the hearing, Asst. U.S. Atty. Ian Yanniello referred to Plasencia as \u201ca drug dealer in a white coat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plasencia\u2019s attorneys, Karen L. Goldstein and Debra S. White, had asked that he be placed on three years of supervised release. Goldstein said in court that Plasencia\u2019s \u201cjudgment was clouded by the promise of making money.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the hearing, Goldstein and White released a statement saying that their client, \u201caccepts the Court\u2019s sentence today with humility and deep remorse.\u201d They noted that Plasencia had voluntarily given up his medical license.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a good doctor loved by those he treated. He is not a villain. He is someone who made serious mistakes in his treatment decisions involving the off-label use of ketamine \u2014 a drug commonly used for depression that does not have uniform standards,\u201d they said. \u201cThe mistakes he made over the 13 days during which he treated Mr. Perry will stay with him forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perry\u2019s parents detailed their grief in emotional victim impact statements submitted ahead of sentencing. Perry\u2019s mother and stepfather, Keith Morrison, wrote that they believed Plasencia \u201cis among the most culpable of all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one alive and in touch with the world at all could have been unaware of Matthew\u2019s struggles,\u201d they wrote. \u201cBut 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.\u201d <\/p>\n
John and Debbie Perry, Perry\u2019s father and stepmother, addressed Plasencia directly in their letter, writing that their son\u2019s recovery \u201ccounted on you saying NO.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat ever were you thinking?\u201d they wrote. \u201cHow long did you possibly see supplying Matthew countless doses without his death to eventually follow? Did you care? Did you think? How many more people have you harmed that we don\u2019t know about?\u201d<\/p>\n
Plasencia was one of five co-conspirators named in an indictment last year, including Dr. Mark Chavez, Perry\u2019s acquaintance Erik Fleming, and former personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa. All of them have since pleaded guilty. Jasveen Sangha, a North Hollywood woman allegedly known as the \u201cKetamine Queen,\u201d has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing for selling drugs to Perry. <\/p>\n
Perry, 54, was found dead<\/a> in the hot tub of his Pacific Palisades home two years ago on Oct. 28. He died from \u201cacute effects of ketamine,\u201d<\/a> according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner\u2019s office. Authorities say the actor\u2019s final dose, injected by Iwamasa, was not provided by Plasencia.<\/p>\n According to the plea agreement, Plasencia was the owner and operator of Malibu Canyon Urgent Care, a clinic in Calabasas. He had applied and received authorization from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to dispense, administer and prescribe narcotics and other controlled substances, as long as those prescriptions were for a legitimate medical purpose.<\/p>\n In late September 2023, about a month before Perry\u2019s death, Plasencia was introduced to Perry by one of his patients, who said the actor was a \u201chigh-profile person\u201d willing to pay \u201ccash and lots of thousands\u201d for ketamine treatment, according to the agreement.<\/p>\n