Doctor in Matthew Perry Death Probe Set to Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Ketamine Charge

Following an appearance in a Los Angeles federal court on Friday, one of the two California doctors indicted as part of the investigation into the overdose death of actor Matthew Perry is expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine, a Department of Justice official confirmed with The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.

Mark Chavez, 54, is set to appear in federal court on Friday afternoon for an initial bond hearing and arraignment, according to Ciaran McEvoy with the United States Attorneys’​ Office, who said Chavez is expected to enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks. A probe saw five people arrested for their roles in the untimely death of the Friends star. When entered by Chavez, as anticipated, his will mark the third guilty plea to come out of the investigation into Perry’s death; the actor was found dead in his backyard hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home in October.

On Aug. 15, it was announced by authorities that five people were indicted in Perry’s death after a months-long probe unearthed a “broad underground criminal network,” a coalition of law enforcement agencies announced at a press conference that afternoon. This group included his live-in housekeeper, two doctors, a drug dealer with whom Perry associated, and a woman dubbed “the ketamine queen” by law enforcement.

Jasveen Sangha, the 41-year-old woman prosecutors refer to as “the ketamine queen,” and Salvador Plasencia, also known as “Dr. P.,” who worked as a physician at an urgent care center, were announced as the lead defendants in the case. Sangha is accused of maintaining a “stash house” in North Hollywood where thousands of dollars worth of illegal drugs were discovered when a warrant was executed there in March, according to a superseding indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Both Sangha and Plasencia pleaded not guilty and were arraigned at U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 15. Sangha is being detained without bond and has a trial date set for Oct. 15. Plasencia’s bond was set at $100,000; his trial date is Oct. 8.

The Friends star’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, Erik Fleming, who has been described as an associate and a friend of Perry’s, as well as a street drug dealer, and another Chavez, were also indicted and are the three who accepted lesser charges in plea deals after working with prosecutors. Plasencia was working with Chavez to obtain ketamine, which he would then provide to Iwamasa, who would then inject the ketamine into Perry. From September 2023 until his Oct. 28, 2023, death, the three worked to distribute approximately 20 vials of ketamine to Perry for $55,000, authorities said earlier this month.

In announcing the indictments and arrests, law enforcement said Chavez also made false representations to a wholesale ketamine distributor and used a phony prescription for ketamine lozenges using the name of a former patient. 

According to the medical examiner’s report after his death, a psychiatrist and an anesthesiologist who also served as Perry’s primary care physician were the medical professionals known to be treating Perry in October. Neither were named in the indictments released earlier in August.

A lethal dose of ketamine caused Perry to have cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. The amount of ketamine found in his blood was about the same as what would be used during general anesthesia, the medical examiner said. The office lists the acute effects of the drug as the main cause of his death and added drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid use, as contributing factors.