One of the two doctors arrested in connection with Matthew Perry’s death accepted a plea deal at his first appearance in federal court in Los Angeles.
Mark Chavez could face up to 10 years in prison, according to the Associated Press. Chavez signed an agreement on Friday, August 30, “to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine.” Chavez’s lawyer Matthew Binninger spoke on his behalf outside the courthouse.
“He’s incredibly remorseful, not just because it happened to Matthew Perry, but because it happened to a patient,” Binninger said. “He’s trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened here. He didn’t accept responsibility today, but only because it wasn’t on the calendar.”
Binninger was asked what he would say to Perry’s family if given the chance, and he replied, “I’m afraid I can’t answer that question other than to say that we’re incredibly sorry that someone lost their life. It doesn’t matter that he was a famous celebrity, and I know that he was incredibly universally loved by all. It’s a shame at what happened.”
Perry was found dead at his home in the Pacific Palisades on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54. Authorities first believed that the beloved Friends star drowned in his jacuzzi, but his cause of death was later ruled as the “acute effects of ketamine.” While Perry was receiving ketamine infusion therapy to treat anxiety and depression, his last treatment had been a week and a half before his death. This meant that the ketamine Perry ingested was not legally prescribed from a doctor.
On August 15, Chavez, 54, and four other people were arrested in connection with Perry’s death – Dr. Salvador Plasencia, Erik Fleming, Kenneth Iwamasa and Javeen Sangha, a woman known as “the Ketamine Queen.” Chavez is the third person to plead guilty in the case, preceded by Iwamasa, 59, and Fleming, 54. Sangha, 41, and Plasencia, 42, have both pleaded not guilty.
Iwamasa was Perry’s live-in assistant and admitted to helping The Whole Nine Yards actor obtain the ketamine as well as injecting him with it. The day that Perry died, Iwamasa stated that he injected the 17 Again star three different times. Before his last injection, Iwamasa said that Perry requested that he “shoot [him] up with a big one.” Shortly after administering the last dose, Iwamasa went to run errands. When he returned, he found Perry face down in the hot tub.
The same day as the arrests, police confirmed that Perry was addicted to IV-administered ketamine before he died. DEA administrator Anne Milgram touched on the topic during a press conference.
“Mr. Perry sought treatment for depression and anxiety and went to a local clinic where He became addicted to intravenous ketamine,” Milgram said. “When clinic doctors refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous doctors who saw Perry as a way to make quick money.”
Continuing, Milgram added, “Dr. [Mark] Chavez and Dr. [Salvador] Placensia violated the oath they took to care for their patients. Instead of ‘do no harm,’ they did harm so that they could make more money. Without performing any medical evaluation or monitoring, they supplied Perry with large amounts of ketamine in exchange for large sums of money.”
