San Diego Doctor Sentenced in Connection with Matthew Perry’s Death
Doctor Charged in Matthew Perry’s Death Set for Sentencing
A San Diego doctor implicated in the ketamine overdose death of actor Matthew Perry is poised to face sentencing on Tuesday in a Los Angeles courtroom. Mark Chavez, 55, has been charged with illegally distributing the anesthetic drug.
In October 2024, Chavez pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and subsequently relinquished his medical license. At the time of Perry’s death in 2023, Chavez operated a ketamine infusion clinic in the San Diego area.
According to his plea agreement, Chavez, along with fellow doctor Salvador Plasencia, began supplying ketamine to Perry starting in September 2023.
Perry, who was 54, was discovered deceased in a jacuzzi at his Pacific Palisades home on October 28, 2023. The medical examiner determined that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug as part of a legal, though off-label, treatment for depression but sought more ketamine than his doctor was willing to prescribe.
Plasencia, 44, from Santa Monica, received a 2.5-year federal prison sentence on December 3 after pleading guilty last summer to multiple counts of distributing ketamine and also forfeited his medical license. He acknowledged in court that he was introduced to Perry through another patient and illegally provided the actor with 20 vials of ketamine, along with lozenges and syringes, about a month before Perry’s demise.
Prosecutors stated that after selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia inquired if Chavez could continue supplying the drug, aiming to become Perry’s regular supplier.
Five defendants have been charged in connection with Perry’s death, all of whom have pleaded guilty. Jasveen Sangha, known as the "Ketamine Queen," is facing a potential 65-year sentence when she appears in court on February 25.
Perry had battled substance abuse for many years, a struggle that began during his time on the hit television series "Friends," where he starred as Chandler Bing alongside actors Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer from 1994 to 2004.
