A California-based physician who provided ketamine to “Friends” actor Matthew Perry has been sentenced to eight months of home detention and three years of supervised release, making him the second individual to be sentenced in connection to the actor’s death.
Dr. Mark Chavez is one of five individuals, including another doctor and a purported dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen,” who have pleaded guilty to drug-related charges stemming from the sitcom star’s death in 2023 at his Los Angeles residence.
The San Diego-based physician admitted to acquiring ketamine from his clinic and a wholesale distributor through a fraudulent prescription and subsequently selling it to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who provided the dissociative anesthetic to Perry.
Plasencia was sentenced earlier this month to 30 months in prison.
The multi-year federal investigation into Perry’s death scrutinized how the Emmy-winning actor obtained ketamine through a purported underground drug network in Hollywood.
Ketamine, a surgical anesthetic, is utilized as a treatment for various conditions, including depression, anxiety, and pain.
Perry, who had a history of battling drug addiction and depression, had been prescribed the drug as part of his treatment regimen but allegedly began seeking quantities beyond his prescribed dosage.
This reportedly led him to the drug ring that involved the two physicians, Perry’s live-in assistant, an individual named Erik Fleming, and Jasveen Sangha, a dual American-British national known as the “Ketamine Queen.”
Sentencing for the latter three is anticipated in the coming months.
A post-mortem examination of Perry revealed a high concentration of ketamine in his blood and concluded that the “acute effects” of the substance were the cause of death.
Prosecutors allege that Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, collaborated with Chavez and Plasencia to provide the actor with over $50,000 (£38,000) worth of ketamine in the weeks preceding his death.
In his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to obtaining ketamine from both his former clinic and a wholesale distributor through a fraudulent prescription. He reportedly submitted a fraudulent prescription for 30 ketamine lozenges under a former patient’s name – without her knowledge or consent – for sale to Plasencia to be given to Perry.
He confessed to selling 22 vials of liquid ketamine and nine ketamine lozenges to Plasencia, according to his October 2024 plea agreement.
The transaction was allegedly part of a broader scheme in which Chavez and Plasencia discussed exploiting Perry’s addiction for financial gain, reportedly mocking him in their text exchanges.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia purportedly wrote to Chavez.
Chavez faced a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison. As part of his October 2024 plea deal, he surrendered his medical license and passport.
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