Another doctor involved in Matthew Perry's death agrees to plead guilty: Here are the case details so far

Dr Salvador Plascencia, a California-based physician who was one of the individuals accused of supplying Friends actor Matthew Perry with ketamine weeks prior to the actor's death from overdose, has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distributing ketamine, as per the Department of Justice.

Plasencia, who is said to make his plea soon, was one of the defendants arrested alongside a drug dealer named Jasveen Sangha, also known as “The Ketamine Queen", and three others. The guilty plea pertains to four counts of distributing ketamine and the charge carries a maximum sentence of up to 40 years in federal prison.

Perry died at the age of 54 on October 28, 2023. Found unresponsive in his jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home, the actor's autopsy report had listed the cause as “acute effects of ketamine” and "accidental drowning".

US Attorney Martin Estrada, who supervised the investigation, had earlier revealed that the actor received a total of 27 ketamine shots that are said to have culminated in his death.

The other three arrested with Plasencia and Sangha were Dr. Mark Chavez, Erik Fleming, and Kenneth Iwamasa — all charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

Chavez. has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry and is expected to be sentenced in September. In one of the text messages between him and Plasencia, the latter reportedly referred to Perry as a "moron" and asked how much he was willing to pay.

In August 2024, Fleming, a filmmaker, pleaded guilty to obtaining ketamine from Sangha, the supplier, and handing the drug to Iwamasa, Perry's assistant, who later injected the actor with it. Fleming has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Iwamasa, who also pleaded guilty in August 2024, to one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine, has also admitted to performing multiple injections on Perry without proper medical training. However, Sangha has pleaded not guilty and is slated to go on trial in August 2025.

At the time of the two individuals' indictment, Estrada said, “These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being. Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people’s lives over greed. This case, along with our many other prosecutions of drug dealers who cause death, sends a clear message that we will hold drug dealers accountable for the deaths they cause.”

He also brought up the authorities' shift in perspective in situations like this. “In the past, we used to call these things overdose deaths and do more blaming of the victim. We don’t do that anymore. We blame the drug dealers, the drug sellers, for taking advantage of those addiction issues to cause death or serious injury, and that’s why we bring these cases,” he said.

At the time of announcing charges against the accused, Drug Enforcement Administrator Anne Milgram said, "We allege each of the defendants played a key role in his death by falsely prescribing, selling, or injecting the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry’s tragic death. Matthew Perry’s journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday, to street dealers who gave him ketamine in unmarked vials. Every day, the DEA works tirelessly with our federal, state, and local partners to protect the public and to hold accountable those that distribute deadly and dangerous drugs – whether they are local drug traffickers or doctors who violate their sworn oath to care for patients.”

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