Matthew Perry’s ‘Dr. Ketamine’ sentenced for his role in actor’s OD death

The crooked doctor accused of exploiting beloved sitcom actor Matthew Perry’s well-known addiction battle — and cruelly asking, “how much this moron will pay?” — was slapped with prison time Wednesday for the “Friends” actor’s overdose death.

Los Angeles federal court Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 43, to 2 1/2 years for his role in supplying Perry with ketamine in the month leading up to his tragic death on Oct. 28, 2023.

Plasencia is the first of five defendants to be sentenced in the case. Four others, including “Ketamine Queen” drug dealer Jasveen Sangha also previously took plea deals.

Plasencia — who gave up his medical license following the revelation of his disgraceful part in Perry’s death — pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine as part of a deal with prosecutors, who agreed to drop five other counts in the case.

Plasencia didn’t give Perry, 54, the fatal dose of ketamine.

But he witnessed Perry freeze up and his blood pressure spike when the doctor gave Perry an earlier dose. And that concerning incident didn’t stop Plasencia from leaving more of the drug for the actor’s assistant to inject him with.

On Tuesday, prosecutors submitted a statement from Perry’s mom, Suzanne, and his stepdad, Keith Morrison, saying Plasencia “is among the most culpable of all.”

“This doctor conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret,” the statement read. “For what, a few thousand dollars? So he could feed on the vulnerability of our son … and crow, as he did so, with that revealing question: ‘I wonder how much this moron will pay. Let’s find out.’”

In another statement from Perry’s biological father, John Perry, and his stepmother, Debbie, they asked the judge for a harsh penalty, “to give you plenty of time to think about your actions.”

The pair said Plasencia doesn’t “deserve to hear our feelings” and “how you devastated our family contributing to the loss of Matthew, our only son.”

When Plasencia first heard that Perry was looking for ketamine on Sept. 30, 2023, “rather than do what was best for Mr. Perry — someone who had struggled with addiction for most of his life — defendant sought to exploit Perry’s medical vulnerability for profit,” prosecutors wrote in court papers last month.

The doctor, who had no experience with ketamine therapy, even told co-conspirator Dr. Mark Chavez: “I wonder how much this moron will pay” for the drug.

Plasencia sold Perry “vial after vial” even while knowing Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, was the one administering the shots and didn’t have the proper medical training, prosecutors wrote, in asking the judge to sentence him to three years behind bars.

The former doctor could have faced up to 40 years in prison but under federal sentencing guidelines faced far less.

Plasencia’s lawyer asked the judge for a slap-on-the-wrist sentence of time served.

The doctor’s lawyer Karen Goldstein wrote in court papers last month that her client admitted he knew he shouldn’t have given Perry the drugs and that “he turned a blind eye to the clear signs of addiction and relapse.”

“Remorse cannot begin to capture the pain, regret and shame tat Mr. Plasencia feels for the tragedy that unfolded and that he failed to prevent,” Goldstein wrote.

The defense attorney said Plasencia lost his practice, his medical license, his reputation and he and his family had even received death threats since he was charged. Things got so bad for his family, that his wife and son had to relocate to Arizona “for safety,” Goldstein wrote.

“Given the punishment Mr. Plasencia has already experienced, and will continue to experience for many years to come, a sentence of imprisonment is neither necessary nor warranted,” the lawyer wrote.

Perry had been using ketamine — a drug normally used as a surgical anesthetic — for off-label depression treatment through his regular doctor.

But then the actor started looking for more of the drug than the doctor was willing to give him.

Another patient of Plasencia connected him to Perry and he ultimately supplied the actor with 20 vials of ketamine totaling 100 mg, as well as lozenges and syringes of the drug. In total, Perry paid him $4,500 for all of the drugs.

Plasencia also sought help from his mentor, Chavez, to supply Perry with more of it, so the two doctors would be Perry’s “go-to,” prosecutors said.

Sangha, 42 — a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen” — pleaded guilty in September to giving Perry the dose that killed him. She is set to be sentenced next week.

In his search for more drugs, Perry was introduced to Sangha two weeks before he died through his friend Erik Fleming, who is also awaiting sentencing.

Perry bought 25 vials for $6,000 from Sangha four days before he died. And when he ultimately overdosed, Sangha that same day told Fleming they should delete their messages to each other, prosecutors said.

Perry became one of the biggest tv stars of his generation playing character Chandler Bing on the NBC hit series from 1994 through 2004 — during which he struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. His cast mates were Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlance and David Schwimmer.