A Southern California doctor charged in connection with the drug overdose that led to the death of Friends star Matthew Perry is expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.Dr Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of illegally distributing ketamine, a powerful anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties. According to federal prosecutors, each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, bringing the total possible sentence to 40 years.Plasencia is the second medical professional charged in the high-profile case. Last October, Dr. Mark Chavez admitted to conspiring to distribute ketamine and entered a guilty plea. Authorities say Plasencia purchased ketamine from Chavez and then sold it to Perry at marked-up prices, despite knowing the actor’s vulnerability to substance abuse.According to the plea agreement released by the Justice Department, Plasencia visited Perry’s Los Angeles home in the fall of 2023 to personally administer ketamine injections. Over the course of approximately two weeks, he is accused of distributing 20 vials of the drug to the actor.In text messages cited by prosecutors, Plasencia appeared to acknowledge exploiting Perry’s dependence on the drug. “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” he wrote in one message.Perry, 54, was found unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles residence in October 2023. A subsequent autopsy revealed he had high levels of ketamine in his system at the time of death. The actor had been undergoing supervised ketamine therapy for depression, but investigators say he developed an addiction to the substance, which is increasingly misused as a recreational party drug.Dark struggleFive people have been charged over Perry’s death. Jasveen Sangha, the alleged “Ketamine Queen” who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, is charged with selling Perry the dose that killed him. She has pleaded not guilty. Perry’s live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty last August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.Comedic television series “Friends,” which followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers, drew a massive global following and made megastars of previously unknown actors.History with drug abusePerry’s role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle 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 described going through detox dozens of times.“I have mostly been sober since 2001,” he wrote, “save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps.”
