One of the doctors charged in Matthew Perry’s death has been told to resume his medical practice but can no longer prescribe controlled substances such as ketamine to patients, according to drug investigators who say the doctor supplied the drug-addicted “Friends” actor with drugs before his fatal overdose.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia is expected to reopen his Malibu Canyon Urgent Care clinic as early as Tuesday following his arrest last week, said his lawyer, Stephen Sachs. He told TMZ.
Plascencia, 42, is one of five people charged with defrauding the 54-year-old Perry out of thousands of dollars. Plascencia helped administer ketamine to the popular actor in the weeks before his death from a drug overdose in October.
Plascencia and another doctor, Mark Chavez, are accused of supplying Perry with about 20 bottles of ketamine in exchange for $55,000 in cash, and prosecutors say Plascencia told another patient that Perry’s “addiction was out of control.”
Sachs told the outlet that Plascencia will now be required to tell all of his patients about his ongoing criminal case as he continues to practice medicine.
Plascencia also had his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration, which allows doctors to prescribe controlled substances such as ketamine to patients, revoked.
Plasencia’s lawyers say he is still allowed to distribute uncontrolled drugs such as antibiotics, but that his patients still must sign written waivers authorizing them to be treated by Plasencia, despite the ongoing criminal case.
At the time, Dr. Plascencia was licensed to prescribe and administer powerful tranquilizers to Perry, but prosecutors allege he was trying to profit from the Hollywood star’s drug addiction.
Not only did Plascencia charge high fees, including getting the actor to pay $2,000 for a $12 bottle of drugs, but he also texted Chavez, asking, “How much is this idiot gonna pay,” court documents state.
He also expressed a desire to be Perry’s “go-to” for drugs and allegedly taught Perry’s longtime assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who is also charged in the case, how to inject drugs into his boss.
But according to the filing, Plascencia appears to have retracted his statement just two weeks after Perry’s death, after the actor suffered symptoms similar to “being frozen” after being injected with a “large amount” of drugs.
After Iwamasa’s blood pressure spiked, he allegedly told her, “Let’s not do that again.”
Perry’s lawyer told TMZ that Perry stopped receiving treatment just weeks before his death and that he believes the lawsuit against him is an abuse of federal power.
In addition to the two doctors and Perry’s live-in assistant, alleged street dealer Eric Fleming and Los Angeles’ so-called “ketamine queen,” Jasveen Sangha, were also charged with involvement in Perry’s death.
Plascencia and Sangha are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Plascencia also faces seven counts of sale of ketamine and two counts of falsifying and altering documents or records in connection with a federal investigation.
Meanwhile, Fleming, Iwamasa and Chavez made deals in exchange for pleading guilty to a variety of charges, including conspiracy to distribute ketamine and conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death.
Plascencia, who has pleaded not guilty, was released on bail last Friday.
