Doctor pleads guilty to supplying ketamine to 'Friends' star Matthew Perry
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -A California doctor charged in the 2023 overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry pleaded guilty on Wednesday to four counts of illegal distribution of the prescription anesthetic ketamine.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia, one of five people charged in the death of Perry at age 54, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. He faces up to 40 years in prison when sentenced, prosecutors said.
Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties. It is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and anxiety but is also abused by recreational users.
In a plea agreement with prosecutors, Plasencia admitted injecting Perry with ketamine at the actor's home and in a Santa Monica parking lot in the weeks before his death on October 28, 2023, and that doing so was not for legitimate medical purposes.
Plasencia, who operated an urgent care clinic, obtained the ketamine from another doctor, Mark Chavez of San Diego. According to court filings, Plasencia texted Chavez about Perry, writing, "I wonder how much this moron will pay."
Chavez and two other co-defendants already have pleaded guilty in the case. None has yet been sentenced.
A fifth defendant, Jasveen Sangha, whom authorities said was a drug dealer known to customers as the "ketamine queen," has been charged with supplying the dose that killed Perry. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in August.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including during the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s television sitcom "Friends."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
23 minutes ago
- The Star
Russia's night attack on Kyiv leaves eight injured, including child, Ukraine says
KYIV (Reuters) -A Russian overnight air attack on Kyiv wounded eight residents of an apartment building, including a three-year-old child, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said on Monday. Four of those injured in the attack, which took place soon after midnight on Monday, have been hospitalised, with one person in serious condition, the head of Kyiv's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said on the Telegram messaging app. Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that all of the people were residents of a multi-storey apartment building in the city's Darnytskyi district on the left bank of the Dnipro River. "The blast wave damaged windows from the 6th to the 11th floor," Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. The capital and most of Ukraine were under air raid alerts for several hours overnight following Ukrainian Air Force warnings of Russian missile and drone attacks. With the threat of missile strikes on western parts of Ukraine that border Poland - a NATO member - Polish armed forces scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace. The central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi came under an attack, regional Governor Andriy Raikovych said, adding that emergency services were working on the site and information about potential damage will be released later on Monday. The full scale of the Russian attack on Ukraine was not immediately known. Reuters' witnesses heard loud blasts shaking the city of Kyiv overnight in what sounded like air defence units in operation. There was no comment from Russia on the attack. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes in the war that Russia started in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. (Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Kim Coghill and Saad Sayeed)
The Sun
5 hours ago
- The Sun
George Lucas makes historic first Comic-Con appearance for art museum
SAN DIEGO: Star Wars creator George Lucas made history with his first-ever appearance at Comic-Con, thrilling fans who lined up for hours to see the legendary filmmaker. The 81-year-old director took the stage not to discuss his iconic films but to showcase his passion project—the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, set to open in Los Angeles in 2026. 'We've been waiting five decades for this!' exclaimed panel moderator Queen Latifah as she introduced Lucas and fellow filmmakers Guillermo del Toro and Doug Chiang. The discussion centered on the museum, which Lucas described as 'a temple to the people's art,' housing tens of thousands of pieces from his personal collection. 'I've been collecting art since I was in college,' Lucas told the packed 6,500-seat venue. 'I refuse to sell it. Art is about an emotional connection.' The museum will feature works by Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo, and comic legends like Jack Kirby, alongside props and artifacts from Lucas's films. Guillermo del Toro praised the museum as a celebration of free expression, calling it a vital preservation of visual history. 'We are in a critical moment where the past is often erased,' he said. 'This museum memorializes a powerful moment in our cultural identity.' Fans like Jesse Goldwater, who traveled from Los Angeles, called the panel 'the embodiment of Comic-Con itself.' The event, which draws 130,000 attendees yearly, served as a rare public appearance for Lucas, who rarely engages in convention culture. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art aims to highlight storytelling across mediums, from fine art to comics. 'Science fiction is a myth,' Lucas said, 'but we've made it real through books and art.' - Reuters
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Thai man mourns wife, children killed in shelling
Sudden loss: Komsan lost his wife and two children. — Reuters When the Thai and Cambodian armies began shelling at their contested border on Thursday, Komsan Prachan thought his family was far enough away from the fighting to be safe. The farm worker received a phone call from his children's school asking parents to collect their kids, so he and his wife went and picked up their 14-year-old daughter, nine-year-old son and their son's friend. On the way home, they stopped at a gas station about 3km from their house. Moments later, an artillery shell slammed into the station, destroying the attached 7-Eleven where Komsan's family and the friend had gone to buy snacks. 'All I was thinking then was, my wife and kids,' the 40-year-old told Reuters at a relative's home in Sisaket province. 'I lost all hope. I could only stand and watch.' More than 30 people, mostly civilians, have been killed on both sides of the border since the fighting started on Thursday, in what has become the worst escalation between the two South-East Asian nations in more than a decade. Both sides have accused each other of starting the conflict. Komsan could hear explosions from early on Thursday morning, but he did not think that he needed to evacuate because his house was not in a danger zone. When a Cambodian artillery shell slammed into a convenience store. — Reuters 'I didn't think it would hit this area. There was no bunker around that area as it was considered a safe zone.' Komsan and his wife met in high school. They got married after working together for several years in Bangkok and raised their two children. 'Having them in my life was the greatest blessing,' he said. More than 130,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, with schools forced to close their doors. Local university campuses are being used as temporary shelters for those forced to flee their homes. 'The war is good for no one. They should both talk to each other peacefully. The war only brings loss, loss and loss,' said Komsan. The bereaved husband and father accused the Cambodian government of indiscriminately firing into civilian areas. 'This is not just war, this is murder.' — Reuters
