A San Diego doctor charged in the ketamine overdose death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry was sentenced Tuesday in a Los Angeles courtroom for illegally supplying the anesthetic drug.
Mark Chavez, 55, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one federal count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and subsequently surrendered his medical license. He was sentenced by a federal judge to eight months of home detention and 3 years of supervised release.
He also is required to complete 300 hours of community service and pay a $100 special assessment to the U.S. government.
Perry’s family was not court.
Chavez operated a San Diego-area ketamine infusion clinic at the time of Perry’s death in 2023. He admitted in his plea agreement that he and a second then-doctor, Salvador Plasencia, began supplying ketamine to Perry beginning around September 2023.
Perry, 54, was found dead Oct. 28, 2023, by an assistant in a jacuzzi at his Pacific Palisades home. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine was the primary cause of death.
The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression, which has become increasingly common. Perry began seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him.
Plasencia, 44, of Santa Monica, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison on Dec. 3 after pleading guilty last summer to four counts of distributing ketamine. He also gave up his medical license.
Plasencia admitted in his plea agreement that another patient connected him with Perry, and that starting about a month before Perry’s death, he illegally supplied the actor with 20 vials of ketamine totaling 100 mg of the drug, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes.
He admitted to enlisting another doctor, Chavez, to supply the drug for him, according to the court filings. After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to,” prosecutors said.
No victim impact statements were presented at Tuesday’s hearing, but the judge heard arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys about the degree of Chavez’s culpability and how that would be reflected in his sentence.
“You and Mr. Plasencia helped Mr. Perry stay on the road of addiction that ultimately killed him,” said Judge Sherilyn Garnett.
The judge said Chavez was “less willing to keep going forward” after he learned about an adverse reaction by Perry in October 2023. She also credited Chavez for working with investigators.
The judge also heard form Chavez, who spoke about help he provided to patients and delivering bad news to families as an emergency room doctor.
“I take this very seriously, and I understand what it’s like to mourn the passing of a loved one… my heart goes out to the Perry family,” Chavez said.
Five defendants were charged in Perry’s death and pleaded guilty. Jasveen Sangha, aka the Ketamine Queen, faces up to 65 years in prison when she is sentenced Feb. 25.
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.
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