Matthew Perry Doctor Guilty Plea In Star’s Death

Chavez is one of the handful of people who have been charged in connection with the TV star’s accidental overdose, which prosecutors have described as a deliberate drug ring comprised of four other individuals, including Dr. Salvador Plasencia, one of Matthew Perry’s other doctors. Prosecutors say that Chavez operated a ketamine clinic, giving him access to ketamine lozenges, which he then sold to Plasencia, who then distributed them to Perry.

According to the indictment, Chavez is accused of obtaining the ketamine after writing a fraudulent prescription in another patient’s name without the patient’s knowledge or consent, before providing false information to wholesale ketamine distributors to buy additional vials of liquid ketamine that Chavez intended to sell to Plasencia to eventually provide to Perry.

According to Chavez’s lawyer, Matthew Binninger, his client has shown that he is in fact “incredibly remorseful” and that the disgraced doctor is “accepting responsibility” for his role in facilitating Matthew Perry’s eventual overdose. Binninger states that his client’s admission of guilt is based on the fact that the Friends star was a lifelong addict and “someone who was trying to seek treatment died.”

Chavez’s show of remorse is a stark contrast to what investigators determined to be a deliberate attempt to exploit Matthew Perry’s addiction by doctors that he trusted to do right by him. According to the investigation into Matthew Perry’s death, Chavez and Plasencia had exchanged texts prior to the actor’s death, joking about how much money they would be able to make from his addiction. “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” one of the texts read. “Let’s find out.”

For his role in the death of Matthew Perry, Doctor Plasencia has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, with his trial slated for March 2025. Plasencia will appear alongside his co-defendant Jasveen Sangha, a well-known supplier of ketamine and other illicit drugs to celebrities and other powerful Hollywood players, earning her the nickname the “Ketamine Queen.”

The two other defendants charged in the overdose of Matthew Perry are Eric Flemming, who was chraged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. The other defendant is Matthew Perry’s live-in personal assisstant Kenneth Iwamasa, who plead guilty on August 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.

As Matthew Perry’s personal assistant, Iwamasa was the person who discovered the actor’s lifeless body in his hot tub at his Los Angeles home. Prosecutors alleged that Iwamasa was informally trained by Matthew Perry’s doctors to perform multiple Ketamine injections on the late actor, despite Iwamasa’s lack of prior training or certification. Matthew Perry had been instructed to undergo ketamine infusion therapy as a way to treat the actor’s struggles with both depression and anxiety.

Source: Reuters