BREAKING NEWSDoctor Charged in Matthew Perry's Ketamine Death Pleads Guilty
Matthew Perry was found unresponsive in his hot tub in October 2023.
California doctor Mark Chavez pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Matthew Perry prior to the Friends star's tragic death.
Despite making a plea deal prior to his appearance in court, Chavez still faces up to 10 years in behind bars. He is set to remain out of prison on bond, but is no longer allowed to practice medicine as he awaits his April 2, 2025, sentencing hearing.
Matthew Perry's cause of death was due the 'acute effects of ketamine.'
According to Chavez's plea agreement, he admitted that he sold ketamine to Dr. Salvador Plasencia — one of the five people charged in Perry's death — who allegedly then sold the drug to Perry's personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.
Text messages between Chavez and Plasencia reportedly revealed the pair wondering "how much this moron will pay" for the drug.
Five people were charged in Matthew Perry's death.
Chavez, who ran a ketamine clinic, was able to get the medication by "writing a fraudulent prescription in a patient’s name without her knowledge or consent, and lied to wholesale ketamine distributors to buy additional vials of liquid ketamine that Chavez intended to sell to Plasencia for distribution to Perry," per court documents.
Chavez’s attorney, Matthew Binninger, said the former doctor was "incredibly remorseful" of his actions.
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Matthew Perry's live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa also pleaded guilty to one count.
Iwamasa, who also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, allegedly injected Perry with the fatal dose before his death.
As OK! previously reported, Perry was found unresponsive in his jacuzzi on October 28, 2023. His cause of death was later determined to be the acute effects of ketamine with drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine listed as contributing factors.
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Matthew Perry was 54 years old at the time of his passing.
This sparked an investigation into who provided Perry with the dangerous drug, which eventually led to Chavez, Iwamasa and Plasencia being hit with charges. The two other defendants were "Ketamine Queen" Jasveen Sangha and her alleged associate Erik Fleming.
At the time of the indictments, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada stated, "They knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry. But they did it anyway."
"We are not talking about legitimate ketamine treatment," he said. "We’re talking about two doctors who abused the trust they had, abused their licenses to put another person’s life at risk."
