Doctor accused in Matthew Perry death inquiry pleads guilty

After appearing in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday, one of two California doctors indicted in the investigation into the overdose death of actor Matthew Perry is expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks to conspiracy to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine, a Justice Department official confirmed. The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.

Mark Chavez, 54, is set to appear in federal court Friday afternoon for an initial bail hearing and preliminary hearing, according to Ciaran McEvoy of the U.S. Attorney's Office, who said Chavez is expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks. An investigation has seen five people arrested for their roles in the untimely death of Friends star. When Chavez unveiled it, as expected, his will will mark the third guilty plea to emerge from the investigation into Perry’s death; the actor was found dead in his backyard hot tub in Pacific Palisades in October.

On August 15, authorities announced that five people had been charged in Perry's death after a months-long investigation uncovered a “vast underground criminal network,” a coalition of law enforcement agencies announced at a news conference that afternoon. The group included his housekeeper, two doctors, a drug dealer with whom Perry was in contact, and a woman dubbed “the ketamine queen” by law enforcement.

Jasveen Sangha, the 41-year-old woman prosecutors call “the ketamine queen,” and Salvador Plasencia, also known as “Dr. P.,” who worked as a doctor at an urgent care center, have been announced as the lead defendants in the case. Sangha is accused of operating a “stash house” in North Hollywood where thousands of dollars worth of illegal drugs were discovered when a warrant was executed in March, according to a superseding indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Both Sangha and Plasencia have pleaded not guilty and were arraigned in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 15. Sangha is being held without bail and has a court date set for Oct. 15. Plasencia’s bail has been set at $100,000; his trial date is Oct. 8.

THE Friends the star’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, Erik Fleming, who has been described as an associate and friend of Perry’s as well as a street drug dealer, and another Chavez, were also indicted and are the three who accepted lesser charges in plea agreements after working with prosecutors. Plasencia was working with Chavez to obtain ketamine, which he would then supply to Iwamasa, who would then inject the ketamine into Perry. From September 2023 until his death on Oct. 28, 2023, the three worked to distribute approximately 20 vials of ketamine to Perry for $55,000, authorities said earlier this month.

In announcing the indictments and arrests, law enforcement officials said Chavez also made false statements to a wholesale ketamine distributor and used a fake prescription for ketamine pills, using the name of a former patient.

According to the coroner's report after his death, a psychiatrist and an anesthesiologist who were also Perry's primary care physicians were the medical professionals treating Perry in October. Neither were named in the indictments released in early August.

A lethal dose of ketamine caused Perry to have cardiovascular hyperstimulation and respiratory depression, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. The amount of ketamine found in his blood was about the same as what would be used during general anesthesia, the medical examiner said. The office listed the drug’s acute effects as the primary cause of his death and added drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid use, as contributing factors.