Mark Chavez, one of the two doctors charged in connection with the death of "Friends" actor Matthew Perry, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine, prosecutors announced Friday.
Chavez, 54, of San Diego is the third of five defendants in the case to sign a plea deal with prosecutors. He made an initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court Friday but did not enter a plea.
At the hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jean Rosenbluth ordered him released on $50,000 bond. She also ordered Chavez, a physician who earlier this week at a separate administrative hearing agreed to surrender his California medical license, not to practice medicine.
San Diego Doctor Charged in Matthew Perry's Death
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
The federal judge overseeing the case will schedule a change-of-plea hearing in the near future, at which time Chavez is expected to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Perry was found dead in October in a hot tub behind his Pacific Palisades home.
Charges against the five defendants, including a live-in assistant, two doctors and a woman known as the "Ketamine Queen," were announced Aug. 15 by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said the suspects are part of a "broad underground criminal network" that supplied ketamine to Perry and others, and "took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves."
The defendants charged in connection with Perry's death are:
- Jasveen Sangha, 41, a.k.a. the "Ketamine Queen," of North Hollywood
- Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 42, a.k.a. "Dr. P," of Santa Monica
- Erik Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne, who pleaded guilty Aug. 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death, admitting that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, prosecutors said
- Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, of Toluca Lake, Perry's live-in assistant, who pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, and is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 6. Prosecutors say he conspired with Sangha, Fleming and Plasencia to illegally obtain ketamine and distribute it to Perry
- Chavez, who admitted in his plea agreement to selling ketamine to Plasencia, including ketamine that he had diverted from his former ketamine clinic. Prosecutors said Chavez also obtained additional ketamine to transfer to Plasencia by lying to a wholesale ketamine distributor and by submitting a phony prescription in the name of a former patient without that patient's knowledge or consent.
Sangha and Plasencia are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Sangha also is charged with one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine, and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
The indictment alleges that Sangha's distribution of ketamine caused Perry's death. Plasencia is charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents or records related to the federal investigation.
Plasencia and Sangha both pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Sangha was ordered to remain jailed without bond. Plasencia's bond was set at $100,000, and he was expected to be released. Both were given preliminary trial dates in October, although the case is unlikely to move to trial that quickly. Plasencia was set for trial Oct. 8, and Sangha Oct. 15.
A status conference in the case against Sangha and Plasencia is scheduled for Sept. 4 before U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in downtown Los Angeles.
"These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being," Estrada said. "Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people's lives over greed."
Local and federal authorities confirmed in May that they were investigating how Perry obtained the prescription drug ketamine, which contributed to his Oct. 28 death at age 54.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was "the acute effects of ketamine."
"Contributing factors in Mr. Perry's death include drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, used to treat opioid use disorder. The manner of death is accident," the medical examiner's office said in a statement.
Ketamine is approved by the DEA for use as an anesthetic. A nasal spray version is used to treat depression in a clinical setting, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said.
According to the court papers, in late September, Plasencia learned that Perry, a successful actor whose history of drug addiction was well documented, was interested in obtaining ketamine. The use of ketamine requires a health care professional to monitor a patient who had been given the drug.
After learning of Perry's interest in ketamine, Plasencia contacted Chavez -- who previously operated a ketamine clinic -- to obtain ketamine to sell to Perry, prosecutors allege.
In text messages to Chavez, Plasencia allegedly discussed how much to charge Perry for the ketamine, stating, "I wonder how much this moron will pay."
Prosecutors said Perry was paying $2,000 per vial of ketamine, while his dealers were paying $12 for each vial.
Perry's 2022 best-selling memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing," discusses his years-long struggle with addiction. The "Friends" star, who played the character Chandler Bing in the series, says he went through detox dozens of times.
Last fall, Perry fell back into addiction, "and the defendants took advantage to profit for themselves," Estrada said during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles when the charges were announced.
When doctors refused to increase his ketamine dosage, Perry turned to unscrupulous doctors, according to Milgram.
"Instead of do no harm, they did harm so that they could make more money," she added.
Prosecutors contend that last September and October, Plasencia distributed ketamine to Perry and Iwamasa without a legitimate medical purpose on at least seven occasions. He taught Iwamasa how to inject Perry with ketamine, selling the drug to Iwamasa to administer to the actor, including once inside a car parked in a Long Beach parking lot, prosecutors allege.
Plasencia knew Iwamasa had never received medical training and knew little, if anything, about administering or treating patients with controlled substances, court papers allege.
Beginning in mid-October, Iwamasa also allegedly began obtaining ketamine for Perry from Fleming and Sangha. After discussing prices with Iwamasa, Fleming coordinated drug sales with Sangha, and brought cash from Iwamasa to Sangha's stash house in North Hollywood to buy vials of ketamine. Sangha has distributed ketamine and other illegal drugs from her stash house in North Hollywood since at least 2019, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Sangha was aware of the danger of ketamine: In August 2019, Sangha allegedly sold the anesthetic to victim Cody McLaury in the hours before his death. The indictment alleges that Sangha nonetheless continued to sell ketamine from her house.
Using the Plasencia-provided instructions and syringes, Iwamasa injected Perry with the ketamine that was sold to him by Fleming and Sangha, including on Oct. 28, when Perry died at his Pacific Palisades home after receiving multiple injections, prosecutors said. Plasencia allegedly sold the ketamine to Iwamasa despite being informed at least one week earlier that Perry's ketamine addiction was spiraling out of control, prosecutors said.
After Perry's death was reported in the news, Sangha texted Fleming, "Delete all our messages," court papers show.
After the actor's death, federal agents and detectives with the LAPD executed search warrants at Sangha's home, where they found evidence of drug trafficking, including about 79 vials of ketamine, roughly 3.1 pounds of orange pills containing methamphetamine, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine, and prescription drugs that appeared to be fraudulently obtained, according to prosecutors.
If convicted of all charges, Sangha would face a sentence between 10 years and life imprisonment. Plasencia would face up to 10 years in federal prison for each ketamine-related count and up to 20 years in federal prison for each records falsification count, prosecutors said.
Iwamasa and Fleming will face up to 15 years and 25 years, respectively, when they are sentenced in their federal cases.
At sentencing, Chavez will face up to 10 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Dominic Choi said his department "is committed to investigating all cases like this," regardless of a victim's fame or economic status.
Following news of the arrests, Perry's stepfather -- "Dateline" correspondent Keith Morrison -- issued a statement on behalf of the family saying, "We were and still are heartbroken by Matthew's death, but it has helped to know law enforcement has taken his case very seriously. We look forward to justice taking its course."
