Matthew Perry’s Doctor Hit With 30 Months in Drug Supply Case
Former physician Salvador Plasencia was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for supplying Matthew Perry with ketamine in the weeks before the actor’s fatal overdose, after prosecutors and family members addressed the court in a Dec. 3 Los Angeles hearing.
This is one of those stories that just gets uglier the more you read. The doctor who was feeding Matthew Perry a steady stream of ketamine in the weeks before the actor died has been sentenced, and the details laid out in court are flat-out grim.
The sentence
On December 3, 2025, in a Los Angeles federal courtroom, Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced former Santa Monica physician Salvador Plasencia to 30 months in federal prison for distributing ketamine to Perry before his October 2023 overdose death. The judge also hit him with a $5,600 fine and ordered him taken into custody on the spot.
Plasencia had already pleaded guilty back in July 2025 to four counts of ketamine distribution and, by September, had surrendered his medical license. Prosecutors say he ran Malibu Canyon Urgent Care LLC out of Calabasas and knew about Perry’s addiction history while supplying him anyway.
What the court says happened
- Sept. 30, 2023: A patient introduces Plasencia to Matthew Perry. In texts later cited by prosecutors, Plasencia makes it clear he plans to cash in.
- That same day, he buys ketamine from Dr. Mark Chavez for $795, goes to Perry’s Los Angeles home to inject him, and leaves additional vials with Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, for $4,500.
- From Sept. 30 to Oct. 12, 2023, Plasencia supplies Perry and Iwamasa with 20 vials of ketamine, tablets, and syringes, billing a total of $57,000. Court filings say he saw Perry having bad reactions and kept supplying him anyway.
- He then orders 10 more vials using his DEA registration.
- Oct. 27, 2023: Plasencia texts Iwamasa that he has left more supplies with a nurse.
- Oct. 28, 2023: Perry dies from a ketamine overdose. Authorities say Plasencia did not provide the fatal dose, but his involvement in the lead-up is extensive.
- After Perry’s death, Plasencia submits falsified treatment notes and invoices to the DEA, according to prosecutors.
'I wonder how much this moron will pay.'
That line, from Plasencia’s own messages quoted in court, pretty much telegraphs what this was about.
How the court viewed it
Prosecutors did not mince words about a doctor acting like a dealer, and the judge called out what she saw as exploitation of a vulnerable patient for profit.
'He was a drug dealer in a white coat.'
That was federal prosecutor Ian Yanniello in court. Judge Garnett told Plasencia he aimed to exploit Mr. Perry’s addiction for his own profit.
For what it’s worth, none of this changes the official finding that the ketamine that killed Perry did not come from Plasencia. But when you read the timeline, that technicality does not make this any less infuriating.
Who else is involved
Four other defendants tied to the case have also pleaded guilty and are waiting to be sentenced. That includes Dr. Mark Chavez, who sold Plasencia the ketamine on Sept. 30, and Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.