The doctor who supplied ketamine to Friends star Matthew Perry has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Salvador Plasencia, a 44-year-old California physician, was among five people charged after a lengthy federal probe into how Perry got ketamine through an underground network in Hollywood.
Plasencia, who pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distributing ketamine, showed remorse before his sentencing. “I want to raise him right,” he said of his two-year-old son. “I also think about how to explain this to him.”
The actor, who had spoken for years about his struggles with addiction and depression, was found dead at his Los Angeles home in 2023 at age 54. US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett acknowledged that Plasencia did not supply the fatal dose that killed Perry but said his actions nonetheless contributed to the circumstances that led to the actor's overdose.
“You and others helped Mr Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction,” the judge said. “You exploited Mr Perry's addiction for your own profit.” “Mr Plasencia kept pushing it… he literally was offering to sell ketamine,” she said, as per the BBC.
Perry had been legally using ketamine as a treatment for depression, but when his primary doctor limited his supply, he turned to Plasencia, who admitted he knew Perry was addicted yet sold to him anyway. Court filings show Plasencia texted another doctor, calling Perry a “moron” he could profit from.
“There was nothing moronic about that man,” Perry's mother, Suzanne Morrison, told the court, citing those messages. “You called him a ‘moron'...He was even a successful drug addict… this was a bad thing you did.”
Perry's father, John, and stepmother, Debbie, wrote that the actor's “recovery counted on you saying NO,” asking how a doctor “whose life is devoted to helping people” could participate in enabling his addiction.
His mother and stepfather described the doctor as a “jackal” who repeatedly violated his Hippocratic oath - a doctor's promise to protect patients and do no harm.
Perry's sister, Madeline Morrison, said, “The world mourns my brother. He was everyone's favorite friend.”
“Celebrities are not plastic dolls that you can take advantage of. They're people. They're human beings with families,” she told him.
Addressing the family, Plasencia said, “I failed myself. There is no excuse. I can't undo what's been done. I know that. I should have protected him, as his mother said. I'm just so sorry.” He became emotional again, “I should have protected him.”
The judge imposed a 30-month term along with a $5,600 fine. Plasencia was taken into custody immediately after sentencing, as per the Associated Press.
