Ex-doctor linked to Matthew Perry’s death sentenced to home confinement

LOS ANGELES (KESQ) - Mark Chavez, the second of two doctors convicted in "Friends" star Matthew Perry's death from a ketamine overdose, was sentenced today in downtown Los Angeles to eight months of home confinement and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service for illegally supplying the anesthetic drug.   

Chavez, 55, of San Diego, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one federal count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He subsequently surrendered his medical license. Chavez operated a San Diego-area ketamine infusion clinic at the time of Perry's death in 2023.

Chavez admitted that he and a second then-doctor, Salvador Plasencia, began supplying ketamine to Perry beginning around September 2023. The general anesthetic is used as a therapy for depression, but is also abused as a so-called party drug that can cause visual and auditory distortions.

Plasencia, 44, of Santa Monica, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison on Dec. 3 after pleading guilty last summer to four counts of distributing ketamine. He too gave up his medical license.

All five defendants charged in Perry's death have pleaded guilty. Lead defendant Jasveen Sangha -- a North Hollywood dealer dubbed the ``Ketamine Queen'' -- will be sentenced Feb. 25.  

According to federal prosecutors, in late September 2023, Plasencia learned that Perry, whose history of depression and drug addiction was well documented, was interested in obtaining ketamine, a drug with medical risks
that require a health care professional to monitor a patient being administered the medication.  

After hearing of Perry's interest in ketamine, Plasencia contacted Chavez to obtain the drug to sell to Perry, prosecutors said.   

In text messages to Chavez, Plasencia discussed how much to charge Perry for the ketamine, stating, ``I wonder how much this moron will pay,'' and Chavez responded, ``Let's find out,'' according to prosecutors.   

Chavez admitted to diverting ketamine from his San Diego clinic to sell to Plasencia, and acknowledged that he lied to a drug distributor and submitted a prescription under the name of a former patient without their consent, court papers show.

According to his plea agreement, Chavez transferred 22 vials of ketamine and nine ketamine lozenges -- which were fraudulently obtained -- to Plasencia for sale to Perry. Chavez ``was fully aware that selling vials of ketamine to a patient for self-administration was illegal,'' according to the document.  

Prosecutors say that during September and October of 2023, Plasencia sold ketamine to Perry and Kenneth Iwamasa -- the actor's live-in assistant.   

Perry was paying $2,000 per vial of ketamine, while his dealers were paying $12 for each vial, papers filed in Los Angeles federal court show.   

Perry detailed his years-long struggle with addiction in the 2022 memoir ``Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.'' The ``Friends'' star, who played the character Chandler Bing in the hit series from 1994 to 2004, says he went through detox dozens of times.

Perry was found dead Oct. 28. 2023, in a hot tub behind his Pacific Palisades home of a fatal ketamine overdose. He was 54. The five defendants were charged in August 2024 in connection with his death.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, using Plasencia-provided instructions and syringes, Iwamasa injected Perry with the ketamine that was sold to him by accused dealers Erik Fleming and Sangha, including multiple injections on the day of the actor's death.

Fleming, 55, of Hawthorne, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7, at which time he will face up to 25 years in federal prison.  

Iwamasa, 60, of Toluca Lake, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 14, at which time he will face up to 15 years in federal prison.

Sangha, 42, pleaded guilty in September 2025 to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury. She faces up to 65 years behind bars, prosecutors said.