Doctor pleads guilty to selling Matthew Perry ketamine in the weeks before the actor’s death

LOS ANGELES AP A clinician pleaded guilty Wednesday to giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the Friends star s overdose death Dr Salvador Plasencia became the fourth of the five people charged in connection with Perry s death to plead guilty He stood next to his lawyer and admitted guilt to four counts to Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in federal court in Los Angeles Plasencia was to have gone on trial in August until the specialist agreed last month to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine according to the signed document filed in federal court in Los Angeles He had previously pleaded not guilty but in exchange for the guilty pleas prosecutors have agreed to drop three additional counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of falsifying records Prosecutors outlined the charges in court before the plea and announced as Plasencia s lawyers have emphasized that he did not sell Perry the dose that killed the actor Perry was referred to only as victim MP The charges can carry a maximum sentence of years in prison and there is no guarantee Plasencia will get less but he s likely to He has been free on bond since shortly after his arrest in August and will be allowed to remain free until his Dec sentencing Plasencia left the courthouse with his lawyers without speaking to reporters gathered outside The only remaining defendant who has not reached an agreement with the U S Attorney s Office is Jasveen Sangha who prosecutors allege is a drug dealer known as the Ketamine Queen and sold Perry the lethal dose Her trial is scheduled to begin next month She has pleaded not guilty According to prosecutors and co-defendants who reached their own deals Plasencia illegally supplied Perry with a large amount of ketamine starting about a month before his death on Oct According to a co-defendant Plasencia in a text message called the actor a moron who could be exploited for money Perry s personal assistant his friend and another professional all agreed to plead guilty last year in exchange for their cooperation as the ruling body sought to make their affair against larger targets Plasencia and Sangha None have been sentenced yet Perry was ascertained dead by the assistant Kenneth Iwamasa The curative examiner ruled that ketamine typically used as a surgical anesthetic was the primary cause of death The actor had been using the drug through his regular practitioner in a legal but off-label cure for depression which has become increasingly common Perry began seeking more ketamine than his medical professional would give him Plasencia admitted in his plea agreement that another individual connected him with Perry and that starting about a month before Perry s death he illegally supplied the actor with vials of ketamine totaling mg of the drug along with ketamine lozenges and syringes He admitted to enlisting another medical professional Mark Chavez to supply the drug for him according to the court filings I wonder how much this moron will pay Plasencia texted Chavez according to Chavez s plea agreement After selling the drugs to Perry for Plasencia allegedly urged Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry s go-to prosecutors commented Perry struggled 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 seasons from to on NBC s megahit