Doctor admits to role in Matthew Perry's death, pleads guilty to federal ketamine charge
A doctor criminally charged in connection with the death of Matthew Perry pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, which carries a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison.
Mark Chavez agreed to surrender his medical license after being charged in connection with the actor's death in August, along with four other defendants including another doctor who federal prosecutors say conspired with him to deal an illegal, unethical and dangerous amount of ketamine to Perry in the last month of his life.
Chavez previously agreed to plead guilty. On Wednesday, he entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Perry, 54, was found dead in the jacuzzi of his home in the Pacific Palisades area of L.A. on Oct. 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner later determined he died from the "acute effects of ketamine," with contributing factors including drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which is a medication used to treat opioid use disorder.
The other people charged in Perry's death include the L.A.-area physician accused of conspiring with Chavez, Salvador Plasencia, Jasveen Sangha — an alleged North Hollywood drug dealer who prosecutors have said is known as the "Ketamine Queen" — Perry's former live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, and Erik Fleming, a Hawthorne man federal authorities have described as a street dealer who acted as a middleman.
In a plea agreement, Chavez admitted to taking ketamine and other prescription drugs from a ketamine infusion clinic in San Diego where he used to work. He also confessed to falsifying a prescription to provide Perry with the drug; using a patient's name to have the prescription filled without that person's consent or knowledge and making false statements to a wholesale ketamine distributer so he could supply more of it to Perry.
Nine days before Perry died, on Oct. 19, 2023, Chavez was interviewed by investigators with the Medical Board of California and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, according to federal prosecutors. When he spoke with them, he concealed the fact that he had distributed ketamine to Plasencia who then allegedly provided it to Perry, prosecutors said.
"These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves," U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada told reporters when he announced the charges in mid-August.
"They knew what they were doing was wrong," Estrada said. "They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry, but they did it anyways. In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being."
The plea agreement states that Chavez is aware that the federal charge he is agreeing to plead guilty to, conspiracy to distribute ketamine, carries a maximum possible sentence of 10 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and a fine of $500,000 — or twice the gross gain or gross loss due to the offense depending on which is greater — as well as a mandatory assessment of $100.
On Aug. 30, Chavez appeared in federal court in Los Angeles but did not enter a plea at the time. He had previously agreed to plead guilty to his role in Perry's death.
While he avoided questions from reporters as he entered the court in August, his attorney, Matthew Binninger, spoke outside the courthouse afterwards.
"He's incredibly remorseful for what happened — not just because it happened to Matthew Perry but because it happened to a patient," Binninger said. "He's trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened here."
Just days before Chavez appeared in court, his physician's license had been suspended and he was not permitted to practice, according to records from the Medical Board of California.
He is scheduled to be sentenced April 2.