Dr Salvador Plasencia, who branded Matthew Perry a ‘moron’ has pleaded guilty to supplying the Friends actor with ketamine in the month leading up to his death
Matthew Perry’s doctor has pleaded guilty to supplying the Friends actor with ketamine before his tragic death. Dr Salvador Plasencia admitted four counts to a federal court judge in Los Angeles, having branded the late actor a “moron” in text messages.”
California-based Plasencia had already been charged following the death of Perry. Today, he pleaded guilty to four counts of illegal distribution of the drug, which is used as a prescription anaesthetic. Prosecutors said that he now faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced.
He was one of five people who were charged in connection with the death of Perry. Plasencia was to have gone on trial in August until the doctor agreed last month to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, according to the signed document filed in federal court in Los Angeles.
Today, he stood next to his lawyer and admitted guilt to four counts to Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in federal court in Los Angeles.
The actor was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles on October 28, 2023. He died at 4.17pm on the same day, aged 54.
An investigation found the cause of Perry’s death to be ruled as an accident from the ‘acute effects of ketamine’, the exact manner of which came from drowning.
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 sitcom.
In his memoir, he admitted that he struggled to watch Friends because it reminded him of the tough times he went through. “I didn’t watch the show, and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine,” he later added.
“I could tell season by season by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see.” Perry explained: “I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128 lbs, I was on Friends getting watched by 30 million people — and that’s why I can’t watch the show, ‘cause I was brutally thin.”
“I had a rule that I would never drink or do drugs while working,” he said. “Because I had too much respect for the five people I was working with. So I was never wasted while working.”
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