Doctor charged in connection to Matthew Perry's death has pleaded guilty
Topics: Friends, Matthew Perry, Drugs, Crime
Ellie Kemp
Featured Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Lili Claire / Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
Topics: Friends, Matthew Perry, Drugs, Crime
One of the doctors charged in connection with Matthew Perry's death has become the third defendant to plead guilty.
The Friends star was pronounced dead shortly after being found unresponsive at his Los Angeles home on October 28 last year.
His primary cause of death was ruled as a ketamine overdose by medical examiners.
San Diego doctor Mark Chavez, 54, appeared at a district court in Los Angeles today (October 2), where he pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
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In August, Chavez signed a plea agreement with prosecutors and was offered lesser charges in exchange for his cooperation.
In his plea, he said he obtained ketamine from his former clinic and from a wholesale distributor before submitting a fraudulent prescription.
Matt Binninger, Chavez's attorney, told reporters in August that his client was 'doing everything in his power to cooperate, to help in this situation.' He said the doctor is 'incredibly remorseful' and that his regret stemmed from the fact 'someone who was trying to seek treatment died' rather than Perry's celebrity.
Five people have been charged in connection with the case, including lead defendants doctor Salvador Plasencia and drug trafficker Jasveen Sangha, dubbed 'The Ketamine Queen'.
The pair maintain their innocence, and are due to go on trial in March.
According to the US Attorney's Office and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Plasencia mocked Perry in a 2023 message to Chavez, writing: "I wonder how much this moron will pay."
They met up and exchanged four vials of ketamine which were sold to Perry for $4,500.
Plasencia then asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s 'go-to'.
Perry's live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and 'broker' Erik Fleming have also pleaded guilty in the case. Iwamasa previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death while Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy when he died, but his last known infusion took place a week and a half prior to his death, according to his autopsy.
Authorities estimate that Iwamasa used Perry's money to pay Plasencia $55,000 for ketamine between September 20, 2023 and October 28, 2023, the day Perry passed away.
On the day of Perry's death, in October 2023, it was revealed that Iwamasa had administered three shots of ketamine in the space of six hours.
Some 40 minutes after his second dose, Perry asked for another shot of ketamine to be administered by Iwamasa. After doing so, the assistant reportedly left the house to run some errands.
He found Perry face down in his hot tub on his return, with the actor being pronounced dead shortly after.