The doctor who gave Matthew Perry ketamine in the months before his death will plead guilty to some of the counts he is facing.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia will plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, but three charges of distribution of ketamine and two counts of falsifying records will be dropped, The Associated Press reported.
He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.
Plasencia will enter his guilty plea in the next few weeks, People magazine reported.
Ketamine is a surgical anesthetic that can be prescribed for the treatment of depression.
Plasencia, known as “Dr. P,” allegedly called Perry a “moron” in text messages, adding that the actor could have been exploited for money, The Washington Post reported.
Perry had been prescribed ketamine by his regular doctor for depression, but he had been looking for more than what the doctor would prescribe.
Perry and Plasencia were then brought together by another patient about a month before the “Friends” actor was found dead, the AP reported.
Prosecutors said Plasencia gave Perry 20 vials of ketamine, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes.
Plasencia got the drugs from another doctor, Mark Chavez.
In a text between the two, Plasencia wrote, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
Perry ended up paying $4,500 for the drugs. Plasencia visited the actor’s home twice, injecting him with the drug and showing Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, how to administer it.
Perry was found dead in his hot tub in October 2023. The cause of death was the acute effects of ketamine, with contributing factors of drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects, People magazine reported. His death was ruled an accident.
The doctor and Jasveen Sangha, who was accused of being a ketamine dealer dubbed the “Ketamine Queen,” were scheduled to go on trial in August, the Post reported.
Prosecutors said that the doses that killed Perry came from Sangha and Perry’s friend, Erik Fleming.
Three other defendants pleaded guilty last year in exchange for their cooperation.
Sangha has not pleaded guilty and is the only one of the group charged in Perry’s death not to. She is in jail as she awaits her trial, the AP reported.
She faces a count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, a count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, a count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, a count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution of ketamine, according to the Department of Justice.
None of the defendants who have entered or agreed to a guilty plea have been sentenced.
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