Dr. Mark Chavez has pleaded guilty after being charged in the overdose death of the Friends actor Matthew Perry last October when he was found dead aged 54
Matthew Perry’s doctor has pleaded guilty to giving him the fatal ketamine that caused his death.
Dr. Mark Chavez is one of two doctors in California who were among the five charged in the Friends actor’s overdose death. On Wednesday, Chavez entered a guilty plea in a Los Angeles federal court.
Following the death of Friends star Perry, who passed away on October 28 of last year at the age of 54 from the “acute effects of ketamine,” the 54-year-old is the third person to face charges. A hearing on the sentence was scheduled for April 2, 2025, by US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett.
Together with his attorney, Chavez left the courtroom on a 50,000-dollar (£37,600) bond and is now free. Chavez admitted in his plea agreement that he diverted ketamine from his previous ketamine clinic to sell it to Salvador Plasencia, a Santa Monica doctor.
After allegedly paying Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa 55,000 dollars (£43,000) to distribute ketamine to the actor from September to October of last year, Plasencia will go on trial on March 4 of next year.
In October 2023, Perry, 54, was discovered dead in a hot tub at his California residence. Perry’s death was attributed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office to the acute effects of ketamine. When Perry developed an addiction to intravenous ketamine last autumn, he had been seeking treatment for his depression and anxiety.
Indicted for providing ketamine are the actor’s personal assistant, two doctors, and a number of others, one of whom prosecutors have dubbed the “Ketamine Queen.” Lawyers for the government have said that two doctors and a drug dealer worked with Perry’s personal assistant and an acquaintance to get the star thousands of dollars worth of ketamine.
Chavez entered his plea at 10 a.m. local time (1700 GMT) in Los Angeles’ U.S. District Court. He could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. Dr. Salvador Plasencia, an additional doctor who was charged in the case, pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and was freed on a $100,000 bond.
Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors said was known as “the Ketamine Queen,” and Salvador Plasencia, also known as “Dr. P.” Sangha, who prosecutors said had a “stash house” in North Hollywood, were named in a grand jury indictment. According to the authorities, Plasencia, 42, and fellow physician Dr. Chavez, 54, conspired to provide Perry with ketamine, allegedly writing in a message: ” “Let’s find out” and “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
“In exchange for 55,000 dollars” (£43,000), Plasencia allegedly distributed approximately 20 vials of ketamine to the actor between September and October 2023, using Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa. After receiving multiple injections from Iwamasa, Perry, who played Chandler Bing in the popular US sitcom Friends, passed away on October 28 of last year at the age of 54 from the “acute effects of ketamine.”
Iwamasa, 59, admitted to “repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training” in his guilty plea to conspiring to distribute ketamine that caused death. According to District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett’s order, Plasencia’s trial will take place on March 4 of next year, according to court documents accessed by the PA news desk.
Jasveen Sangha, dubbed “the ketamine queen” by law enforcement, who allegedly exchanged ketamine worth $11,000 (£8,553) for cash with Perry, will share the dock with him. On the charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, Sangha pleaded not guilty; preserving a drug-related argument; possession of methamphetamine with the intention of distribution; possession of ketamine with the intent to distribute it, in addition to five counts of distributing the drug.
Sangha was scheduled to appear in court on October 15, while Plasencia was scheduled to appear on October 8. On the other hand, a judge in California has decided that they will both face trial on March 4, with a pre-trial hearing scheduled for February 19, 2025.
