Doctor who sold ketamine to ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry receives 30-month sentence

Salvador Plasencia was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Sentenced: Salvador Plasencia was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Wednesday by a federal judge in Los Angeles. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES — The former physician who supplied ketamine to “Friends” star Matthew Perry in the weeks leading up to the actor’s death in 2023 was sentenced Wednesday to serve 30 months in federal prison.

Salvador Plasencia, 44, known as “Dr. P” to the actor according to court filings, pleaded guilty in June to four criminal counts of distribution of ketamine. He appeared before a federal Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in Los Angeles on Wednesday and surrendered to authorities after sentencing to begin his 2 1/2-year sentence.

The sentence also included two years of probation, a $5,600 fine and a $400 special assessment.

Plasencia’s mother, sitting in the courtroom audience, sobbed and sank to her knees.

Perry, known for his role as Chandler Bing on the sitcom “Friends” from 1994 to 2004, died on Oct. 28, 2023, at his residence in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 54.

According to court documents, Plasencia texted another doctor about how much to charge Perry for ketamine.

“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” he allegedly texted. “Let’s find out.”

According to court documents, Plasencia charged Perry approximately $57,000 for the ketamine.

Plasencia, who was an urgent care clinic operator in Calabasas, California, is the first person to be sentenced in connection with Perry’s death. Four others have pleaded guilty in the case, including Jasveen Sangha, a dealer who prosecutors said supplied the actor with the drugs that killed him.

“I failed Mr. Perry — I failed him,” Plasencia said during the sentencing hearing. “I failed his family.”

“There is no excuse,” he added while turning toward Perry’s family. “I’m just so sorry.”

Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, addressed the court before the sentencing and asked Plasencia if he had children. When he nodded, she told him that Perry “is my boy.”

“To be called a ‘moron,’ there is nothing moronic about this man,” Morrison said. “He even knew how to be a successful drug dealer.

“I want you to see his mother. This was a bad thing you did.”

Garnett said during the sentencing that Plasencia helped the actor toward death “by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.”

“You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit,” she said.

Plasencia’s attorney, Karen L. Goldstein and Debra S. White, said in a statement that their client accepted the sentence with “humility and deep remorse.”

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