Doctor charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death to appear in court after plea deal
One of two doctors charged in connection with Matthew Perry's death is to appear in court in Los Angeles, where he is expected to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute the surgical anaesthetic ketamine.
Dr Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors earlier this month.
He would be the third person to plead guilty in the aftermath of Perry's fatal overdose last year. A total of five people have been charged in connection with his death.
Chavez agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as they pursue others possibly connected to the crime, including the doctor he worked with to sell ketamine to Perry.
The doctor admitted in his plea agreement that he obtained ketamine from his former clinic and from a wholesale distributor where he submitted a fraudulent prescription.
After a guilty plea, he could get up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced.
Perry's assistant, who admitted to helping inject the ketamine, and his friend who confessed to acting as a middleman and drug messenger are also working with the US Attorney's Office.
Two of those charged, Dr Salvador Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha, have entered not-guilty pleas and are awaiting trial.
Plasencia has been accused of illegally selling ketamine to Perry in the month before his death. Sangha is also accused of selling ketamine to the actor.
A medical examiner ruled ketamine as Perry's primary cause of death after his assistant discovered his body on October 28.
The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression.
Seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him, about a month before his death Perry found Plasencia, who in turn asked Chavez to obtain the drug for him.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez.
The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine.
After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500 (£3,400), Plasencia asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to.”
When announcing the charges, US Attorney Martin Estrada said: “The doctors preyed on Perry’s history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to provide him with ketamine in amounts they knew were dangerous.”
Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.
Plasencia is charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two charges related to allegations he falsified records after Perry’s death.
He will return to court next week, along with Sangha. They have separate trial dates set for October, but prosecutors are seeking a single trial that would likely be delayed to next year.
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.
Want an expert briefing on US politics and the presidential race? Listen to our latest podcast Talking Politics USA