Doctor who sold ketamine to Friends star Matthew Perry jailed

A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star’s overdose death has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to 44-year-old Dr Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.

The judge emphasised that Plasencia did not provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him: “You and others helped Mr Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.

“You exploited Mr Perry’s addiction for your own profit.”

Plasencia was led away in handcuffs as his mother cried loudly in the courtroom.

Perry’s mother and two half-sisters gave tearful victim impact statements before the sentencing.

“The world mourns my brother,” Madeleine Morrison said. “He was everyone’s favourite friend.”

“My brother’s death turned my world upside down. It punched a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere.”

Plasencia was the first to be sentenced out of five defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death at the age of 54 in 2023.

The doctor admitted taking advantage of Perry, knowing he was a struggling addict. Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a “moron” who could be exploited for money, according to court filings.

Prosecutors had asked for three years in prison, while the defence sought just a day plus probation.

Perry’s mother talked about the things he overcame in life and the strength he showed.

“I used to think he couldn’t die,” Suzanne Perry said.

“You called him a moron. There is nothing moronic about that man. He was even a successful drug addict.”

She spoke eloquently and apologised for rambling before becoming tearful at the end, saying: “This was a bad thing you did.”

Plasencia also spoke before the sentencing, breaking into tears as he imagined the day he would have to tell his now two-year-old son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son. It hurts me so much. I can’t believe I’m here”.

He apologised directly to Perry’s family, saying “I should have protected him.”

Perry had been taking the surgical anaesthetic ketamine legally as a treatment for depression, but when his regular doctor would not provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling to Perry and knowing he was a struggling addict.

Plasencia’s lawyers tried to give a sympathetic portrait of him as a man who rose out of poverty to become a doctor beloved by his patients, some of whom provided testimonials about him for the court.

The lawyers called his selling to Perry “reckless” and “the biggest mistake of his life”.

Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. Prosecutors agreed to drop five more counts. The agreement came with no sentencing guarantees, and Judge Garnett could have given him up to 40 years.

The other four defendants who reached deals to plead guilty will be sentenced in the coming months.

Perry died after struggling with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing.

He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s hit sitcom.