THE doctor who supplied Matthew Perry with dozens of vials of ketamine began crying after he turned to apologize to the actor’s family minutes before he was hauled away to serve 30 months in prison.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia was seen teary-eyed as he told Perry’s mother, Suzanne, and relatives, “I’m just so sorry.”
He stood before the court and told Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett: “I never imagined I’d be standing before you. I spent so many years and came so far to help people, to take them away from pain.”
Placenscia, 43, explained that he will one day have to find a way to tell his own young son that he “couldn’t protect a mother’s son.”
He admitted that there was “no excuse,” adding that he failed Perry and his family.
He agreed to plead guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine as part of a deal with prosecutors, who dropped five other counts.
Plasencia is the first of five defendants who are set to be sentenced in the coming weeks, although he did not deliver the fatal dose.
Minutes before his apology, the court heard from the grieving parents of Perry, 54, who died after being found face-down in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
The two-hour sentencing hearing saw the actor’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, decide to speak directly to Placenscia, explaining her son fought so hard to stay alive after suffering for years with addiction and even bounced back after serious medical issues.
She expressed the importance of the Hippocratic Oath doctors take and, through tears, told Placesncia, “This is my boy!”
Looking him directly in the eye and being comforted by her husband, Keith Morrison, she said, “I just wanted you to see the mother. This was a bad thing you did.”
She also scolded him for calling her son a “moron” in damning text messages read out in court, as he was seen looking solemn and sweating, repeatedly mopping his brow and face.
Perry’s sisters and stepmother also spoke in court about how loyal and connected the family is and how their lives will never be the same again.
Perry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, also wrote a victim impact statement, although he never read it out in court.
He described the emotional toll the actor’s mother has continued to endure since her son’s death more than two years ago.
“Many people, mothers mostly, have told me over the years how things like that breaks you, makes you feel broken,” he wrote.
“And I didn’t quite get what that meant until I watched what this thing did to Matthew’s mother. Still does, two years on. It’s a deep well, can’t see the bottom yet.”
The star’s father, John Perry, was absent due to illness.
The Government recommended 36 months behind bars, while the probation service recommended 12 months, and Plasencia’s team asked for just one day.
His lawyers still tried to argue that he was initially trying to treat Perry, his first high-profile patient, for his depression.
But Judge Garnett told the defense, “I don’t buy that argument.”
She also pointed out how the doctor further encouraged Perry to take ketamine, with a text to his assistant that read, “I know you mentioned taking a break. I have been stocking up on the meanwhile. I am not sure when you guys plan to resume but in case its when im out of town this weekend I have left supplies with a nurse of mine …I can always let her know the plan.”
Judge Garnett disagreed that Plasencia was trying to help Perry and believed he was selling drugs for a profit, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello called him a “drug dealer in a white coat.”
“You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to his death by continuing to feed his addiction,” Judge Garnett added.
Perry’s mother and stepmother also slammed Plasencia and the other defendants as “greedy jackals” who came out of the dark and fed on the vulnerability of their son.
“I believe the man you are going to sentence today is among the most culpable of all. His crime I find truly hard to understand,” the parents’ statement read.
“Sometimes it’s a little easier to understand when a person commits a terrible crime.
“Maybe in the heat of passion, or because that person makes one very bad decision.. or some drug dealer, bad to the bone, who takes the calculated risk of getting caught and spending many years in prison.
“But… a doctor? Who trades on respect, and trust? And not just one bad decision.. No one alive and in touch with the world at all could have been unaware of Matthew’s struggles.
“But this doctor conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret.
“For what, a few thousand dollars? So he could feed on the vulnerability of our son…and crow, as he did so, with that revealing question: ‘I wonder how much this moron will pay. Let’s find out.’”
Plasencia’s disgruntled mother, Luz, was an emotional wreck as she watched her son be escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs after learning his fate.
He will serve 30 months and be on supervised release for a further two years after his release.
The doctor was also ordered to pay a $5,600 fine and a $400 special assessment.
Outside the courthouse, Luz told reporters that she wants Perry’s family to know she’s “so sorry,” but defended her son, saying he has a “good heart.”
“I love him and to all the parents, no matter how old your children are, talk with them,” Luz said when asked if she had a message to her son.
Keith had little to say after the sentencing, but admitted, “It’s a tragic story. Sometimes people do bad things.”
Perry’s stepmom, Debbie, whose victim impact statement was on behalf of herself and the actor’s father, John, condemned Plasencia’s action, saying their son’s recovery counted on the defendant “saying no.”
“Your motives? I can’t imagine,” Debbie and John wrote.
“A doctor whose life is devoted to helping people? Whatever were you thinking? How long did you possibly see supplying Matthew countless doses without his death to eventually follow?
“Did you care? Did you think? How many more people have you harmed that we don’t know about?”
The parents lamented that Plasencia devastated the family and contributed to the loss of their only son.
‘DR. P’
After the hearing, Plasencia’s lawyers released a statement saying that their client, “accepts the Court’s sentence today with humility and deep remorse.”
They added that he had voluntarily given up his medical license, a fact that was repeatedly mentioned in court.
“He was a good doctor loved by those he treated. He is not a villain. He is someone who made serious mistakes in his treatment decisions involving the off-label use of ketamine — a drug commonly used for depression that does not have uniform standards,” they said.
“The mistakes he made over the 13 days during which he treated Mr. Perry will stay with him forever.”
Federal investigators said Plasencia and Mark Chavez – a former physician in San Diego, who is also scheduled to be sentenced on December 17 – coordinated with Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s personal live-in assistant, to distribute the drugs to the actor.
Martin Estrada, the US attorney for the Central District of California, said Perry fell back into addiction during the fall of 2023.
“These defendants took advantage to profit for themselves,” Estrada said at the time.
On September 30, 2023, Plasencia, who was known to Perry as “Dr. P,” and Chavez discussed purchasing ketamine so they could sell it to the actor, according to a federal indictment.
In a text message, prosecutors said Plasencia and Chavez discussed how much they were going to charge Perry, writing, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Let’s find out.”
