By Lisa Richwine
(Reuters) - A California doctor charged in the overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of illegal distribution of the drug ketamine, according to a court filing on Monday.
Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent care clinic in Malibu, faces up to 40 years in prison, according to a statement from prosecutors. He is expected to enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks.
Plasencia was one of five people charged in the death of Perry at age 54. An autopsy found the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine and other factors that caused him to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub in October 2023.
Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties. It is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and anxiety, but also abused by recreational users.
In the plea agreement, Plasencia admitted to injecting Perry with ketamine at the actor's home and in a Santa Monica parking lot in the weeks before his death, in exchange for thousands of dollars, and that it was "not for legitimate medical purposes."
Plasencia obtained the ketamine from another doctor, Mark Chavez of San Diego. According to earlier court filings, Plasencia texted Chavez about Perry, saying "I wonder how much this moron will pay."
Chavez and two other defendants have already pleaded guilty in the case. None has yet been sentenced.
A fifth defendant, Jasveen Sangha, whom authorities said was a drug dealer known to customers as the "ketamine queen," has been charged with supplying the dose that killed Perry. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in August.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including during the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s television sitcom "Friends."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Stephen Coates and Matthew Lewis)
