Doctor in Matthew Perry death case to appear in court after plea deal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of two doctors charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death is set to appear in a federal court in Los Angeles after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors.

Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, from San Diego, signed an agreement earlier this month to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine, a surgical anesthetic.

Plans for his hearing to enter the plea will be arranged at the arraignment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Chavez will be the third person to plead guilty following the “Friends” star’s fatal overdose last year. He has also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors targeting others, including a doctor Chavez worked with to sell ketamine to Perry.

Others working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office include Perry’s assistant, who admitted to helping him obtain and inject ketamine, and an acquaintance who acted as a drug messenger and middleman.

These three individuals are aiding prosecutors as they pursue their main targets: Dr. Salvador Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha. Plasencia is charged with illegally selling ketamine to Perry shortly before his death. Sangha is accused of selling the lethal dose of ketamine to the actor. Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

In his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to obtaining ketamine both from his former clinic and a wholesale distributor through a fraudulent prescription.

If his guilty plea is accepted, Chavez could face up to 10 years in prison at sentencing.

Perry was discovered dead by his assistant on October 28. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug legally through his regular doctor as an off-label treatment for depression, a practice that has become increasingly common.

Seeking more ketamine than his doctor would prescribe, Perry contacted Plasencia about a month before his death. Plasencia then asked Chavez to obtain the drug for him.

“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez. They met in Costa Mesa, between Los Angeles and San Diego, to exchange at least four vials of ketamine.

After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia asked Chavez if he could continue supplying ketamine, aiming to become Perry’s “go-to.”

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced the charges on August 15, stating that the doctors exploited Perry’s history of addiction to provide him with ketamine, knowing the amounts were dangerous.

Plasencia faces seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two charges related to falsifying records after Perry’s death. He and Sangha are scheduled to return to court next week. Although they have separate trial dates set for October, prosecutors are seeking a single trial that will likely be delayed to next year.

Perry’s battle with addiction dated back to his time on “Friends,” where he became famous as Chandler Bing alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer. The iconic sitcom aired on NBC for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004.

This story has been corrected to show that Chavez is expected to enter his guilty plea at a later date, not on Friday.

Source: Associated Press