DOCTOR OF MATTHEW PERRY ENTERS GUILTY PLEA AFTER THE DEATH OF THE ACTOR
Among the five individuals accused in Matthew Perry's overdose death, one physician has entered a guilty plea.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, has entered a guilty plea to one count of providing the Friends star with ketamine illegally. He is the third of the five to enter a guilty plea when he appeared on Wednesday, October 2, at the US District Court in Los Angeles. On April 2, 2025, US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett set aside time for a sentencing hearing. Currently free on a $50,000 (£37,600) bond, Chavez's lawyer, Matt Binninger, stated back in August that his client "is incredibly remorseful." At the age of 54, Perry passed away from "acute effects of ketamine" after being discovered "unconscious in a stand-alone Jacuzzi" at his Los Angeles residence on October 28. According to reports, the actor treated his anxiety and depression with ketamine.
A few months prior, law enforcement stated that a "vast underground criminal network" was accountable for providing Mr. Perry and other individuals with substantial amounts of ketamine. Plasencia will stand trial alongside alleged drug dealer Jasveen Sangha, known as 'the ketamine queen', next March. Erik Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne is one of the other defendants, charged separately. According to court documents, Fleming admitted to distributing the ketamine that killed Perry. Iwamasa, 59, of Toluca Lake, who lived with Perry, hatched a plan with Sangha, Fleming, and Plasencia to get ketamine illegally and give it to the actor. He entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiring to distribute lethal amounts of ketamine. Perry received about 20 ketamine vials from the group in exchange for $55,000 in cash, according to the authorities. During a press conference in August, attorney Martin Estrada stated: "These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves."
"They knew what they were doing was wrong, they knew they were putting Mister Perry in grave danger, and yet they continued with it. "These defendants ultimately cared more about making money off of Mr. Perry than they did about his well-being." "As many of you are aware, Mr. Perry has battled addiction in the past," he said. Now, he sought treatment for his addiction problems on numerous occasions. According to the investigation, Mr. Perry relapsed into addiction in the fall of 2023, and these defendants profited off of it for themselves. "These defendants were more concerned with making money off of Mr. Perry than with his welfare. "Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people’s lives over greed. We will hold drug dealers accountable for the deaths they cause, as demonstrated by this case and numerous other prosecutions of drug dealers who cause fatalities."