LOS ANGELES — One of two doctors charged in connection with the death of Matthew Perry is expected to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, reached a plea deal with prosecutors earlier this month, becoming the third person to plead guilty in the aftermath of the “Friends” star's fatal drug overdose last year.
Chavez has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in pursuing other suspects, including a doctor who worked with Perry to sell ketamine. Also cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's Office are an assistant to Perry, who admitted to helping obtain and inject the ketamine, and an acquaintance of Perry, who admitted to acting as a drug messenger and middleman.
The three are cooperating with prosecutors to pursue their primary targets, Dr. Salvador Plasencia (charged with illegally selling ketamine to Perry a month before his death) and Jasbeen Sangha (the dealer who authorities say sold Perry the fatal dose of ketamine). Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
In his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to obtaining ketamine from a clinic he previously attended and from a wholesaler and submitting false prescriptions.
If he pleads guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Perry was found dead by her assistant on October 28. The coroner determined that ketamine was the primary cause of death. Perry had been using the drug through her doctor as a legal but off-label treatment for depression, an increasingly common practice.
Perry found Plascencia about a month before his death seeking more ketamine than his doctor prescribed, and Plascencia asked Chavez to obtain the drugs.
“How much will this idiot pay,” Plascencia texted Chavez. The two met that day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine.
Matthew Perry
After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plascencia asked Chavez if he could continue to supply the drugs and be Perry's “go-to guy.”
“Doctors exploited Mr. Perry's history of drug addiction by knowingly administering ketamine to him in the final months of his life last year,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in announcing the charges on August 15.
Plascencia is charged with seven counts of selling ketamine and two related to the allegations of falsifying records after Perry's death. He and Sangha are due in court next week. They are scheduled to go on trial separately in October, but prosecutors are seeking a single trial, likely to be postponed until next year.
Perry has struggled with drug addiction for years, dating back to his days on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer on the megahit NBC comedy for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004.
