Doctor who sold ketamine to 'Friends' star Matthew Perry gets 2 1/2
years in prison
[December 04, 2025]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to
Matthew Perry was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Wednesday at an
emotional hearing over the “Friends” star's overdose death.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included two
years of probation and a $5,600 fine to 44-year-old Dr. Salvador
Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.
The judge emphasized that Plasencia didn’t provide the ketamine that
killed Perry, but told him, “You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road
to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.”
“You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit,” she said.
Plasencia was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother cried in
the audience. He might have arranged a date to surrender, but his
lawyers said he was prepared to do it today.
Perry's family describes their grief
Perry’s mother, stepmother and two half sisters gave tearful victim
impact statements before the sentencing.
“My brother’s death turned my world upside down,” sister Madeline
Morrison said, crying. “It punched a crater in my life. His absence is
everywhere.”
She talked about the broad effect of losing him.
“The world mourns my brother. He was everyone's favorite friend,”
Morrison said, adding “celebrities are not plastic dolls that you can
take advantage of. They're people. They're human beings with families.”
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 alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox,
Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994
to 2004 on NBC’s megahit.
Who's responsible for Perry's death
Plasencia was the first person sentenced of the five defendants who have
pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death at age 54 in 2023.
The doctor admitted to taking advantage of Perry, knowing he was a
struggling addict. Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a
“moron” who could be exploited for money, according to court filings.
Prosecutors had asked for three years in prison, while the defense
sought just a day in prison plus probation.
Perry’s mother talked about the things he overcame in life and the
strength he showed.
“I used to think he couldn’t die,” Suzanne Perry said as her husband,
“Dateline” journalist Keith Morrison, stood at the podium with her.
“You called him a ‘moron,’” she said, addressing Plasencia. “There is
nothing moronic about that man. He was even a successful drug addict.”
She spoke eloquently and apologized for rambling before getting tearful
at the end, saying, “this was a bad thing you did!”
Plasencia apologizes to Perry's family
Plasencia also spoke, moments after Suzanne Perry, breaking into tears
as he imagined the day he would have to tell his now 2-year-old son
“about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son. It hurts me so
much. I can’t believe I’m here.”
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Dr. Salvador Plasencia leaves federal court on Wednesday, July 23,
2025 in Los Angeles, after pleading guilty to giving ketamine to
Matthew Perry, leading up to the actor's 2023 overdose death. (AP
Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
 He apologized directly to Perry’s
family. “I should have protected him,” he said.
Perry had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a
treatment for depression. But when his regular doctor wouldn't
provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia.
Plasencia’s lawyers tried to give a sympathetic portrait of him as a
man who rose out of poverty to become a doctor beloved by his
patients.
His mother stood to speak after Perry's mother had spoken, but the
judge told her it wasn't appropriate for this hearing.
Outside the courthouse after, Luz Plasencia told reporters, “I’m
sorry to the family of Matthew Perry."
"I’m feeling what they feel,” she said. Speaking about her son, she
said, “I know his heart.”
Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of
ketamine. He did not plead to causing Perry's death, and the amount
he distributed was relatively small given that he sold only to
Perry.
The judge said she largely agreed with a probation report suggesting
the appropriate sentence was between eight and 14 months, but she
went well beyond that.
“I think the judge was very well-reasoned,” Keith Morrison told
reporters.
At the start of the hearing, she said that family impact statements
may not be appropriate because legally, “there is no identifiable
victim in this case. The victim is the public.”
But Plasencia's lawyers said they didn't object to family members
speaking.
A doctor or a drug dealer?
The defense sought to cast Plasencia as a doctor treating a patient
who was overcome by recklessness and greed.
“It was a perfect storm of bad decision-making, everybody agrees,”
attorney Karen Goldstein said, adding “absolutely his judgment was
clouded by money.”
Prosecutors said he was never acting as a doctor.
“He wasn't a negligent or reckless medical provider,” Assistant U.S.
Attorney Ian Yanniello said. “He was a drug dealer in a white coat.”
Garnett generally agreed, pushing back against the defense argument
that Perry was Plasencia's patient, and that the doctor had
diagnosed him in a phone call they had before the sales began.
“Mr. Plasencia kept pushing it,” the judge said. He literally was
offering to sell ketamine."
When another defense attorney, asked “Is your honor confused about
how this all went down?” Garnett replied, sternly, “No I'm not.”
The other four defendants who reached deals to plead guilty will be
sentenced at their own hearings in the coming months. Garnett said
she would seek to make sure all the sentences made sense in relation
to one another.
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