A San Diego doctor charged in connection with Matthew Perry ‘s fatal overdose pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, entered the plea in federal court in Los Angeles, becoming the third person to admit guilt in the aftermath of the Friends star’s death last year.
Prosecutors offered lesser charges to Chavez and two others in exchange for their co-operation as they go after two targets they deem more responsible for the overdose death: another doctor and an alleged dealer they say was known as the “ketamine queen” of Los Angeles.
Chavez stood in court with his lawyer and answered dozens of questions from Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett. He agreed to give up his right to trial and other rights.
He listened to prosecutors as they read through every instance of him meeting with Plasencia between San Diego and Los Angeles to hand off ketamine he got using fraudulent prescriptions. In all, he admitted to supplying 22 5-millilitre vials of ketamine and nine ketamine lozenges.
Chavez cleared his throat when a prosecutor described Perry’s death.
“Are you pleading guilty because you did the things the prosecutors described?” Garnett asked Chavez.
“Yes, your honour,” he said.
The judge told him that she is not bound by any agreement or recommendation and can still sentence him to the full 10 years allowed by law. But he is likely to be sentenced to far less time because of the plea and his co-operation with prosecutors.
Chavez is free on bond until the sentencing. He has turned over his passport and agreed to surrender his medical licence, among other conditions.
His lawyer, Matthew Binninger, said after Chavez’s first court appearance on Aug. 30 that he is “incredibly remorseful” and is “trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened here.”
Binninger spoke only briefly to reporters outside the courthouse.
“Mark entered his plea of guilty and that’s now public record,” Binninger said. “You accept responsibility and then you set sentencing.”
Also working with federal prosecutors are Perry’s assistant, who admitted to helping him obtain and inject ketamine, and a Perry acquaintance, who admitted to acting as a drug messenger and middleman.
Prosecutors have bigger targets
The three are helping prosecutors as they go after their main targets: Dr. Salvador Plasencia, charged with illegally selling ketamine to Perry in the month before his death, and Jasveen Sangha, alleged to be a dealer who sold the actor the lethal dose. Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
Chavez admitted in his plea agreement that he obtained ketamine from his former clinic and from a wholesale distributor where he submitted a fraudulent prescription.
Perry was found dead by his assistant on Oct. 28, 2023. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.
Perry began seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him. About a month before the actor’s death, he found Plasencia, who in turn allegedly asked Chavez to obtain the drug for him.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez, according to court filings from prosecutors. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine, the filings said.
After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500 US, Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to,” prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in announcing the charges Aug. 15 that “the doctors preyed on Perry’s history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to provide him with ketamine in amounts they knew were dangerous.”
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 on NBC’s megahit sitcom alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004.
