Doctor Charged in Matthew Perry's Fatal Overdose Allegedly Referred to Him as a "Moron" in Texts

According to court docs, one of the medical doctors charged in connection with actor Matthew Perry's fatal October 2023 overdose allegedly wrote a text message to a co-conspirator in September 2023 in which he referred to the Friends star as a "moron."

Five people — including two medical doctors named Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez — have been federally charged in Perry's death, 10 months after the actor died in a hot tub from the acute effects of ketamine.

Forty-two-year-old Plasencia has already been arrested, as has alleged drug dealer Jasveen Sangha, better known as the "Ketamine Queen."

Per court documents, during a September 2023 text message conversation between Plasencia and Chavez in which they were discussing how much to charge Perry for ketamine, Plasencia allegedly wrote, "I wonder how much this moron will pay," and, "Let's find out."

In Oct. 2, 2023, ahead of a planned meeting between Plasencia and Perry, Plascenia allegedly texted Chavez that "if today goes well, we may have repeat business." Two days later, Plascencia allegedly texted Chavez saying that after having injected Perry, Plascencia had "found the sweet spot, but trying different places led to running out" of ketamine. Plascencia allegedly also said via text that he wanted to "be [Perry's] go-to."

Days later, on Oct. 12, Plasencia allegedly injected Perry with such a large dose of ketamine that it caused the actor to freeze up while his blood pressure spiked, then left Perry's assistant Kenneth Iwamasa with additional vials of ketamine for injecting Perry.

Plasencia had allegedly told a patient at his clinic the previous week that Perry was "spiraling."

Martin Estrada, an attorney based in Los Angeles, told reporters at an Aug. 15, 2024, press conference that all of the defendants charged in this case "took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves."

"Defendant Plascencia was a medical doctor," Estrada said. "He worked with another medical doctor, Defendant Mark Chavez, to obtain ketamine. He then worked with Mr. Perry's live-in assistant, Defendant Kenneth Iwamasa, to distribute that ketamine to Mr. Perry. Over two months, from September to October 2023, they distributed approximately 20 vials of ketamine to Mr. Perry in exchange for $55,000 in cash. Defendant Plascencia saw this as an opportunity to profit off Mr. Perry."

Estrada also said that "as a doctor, Defendant Plascencia knew full well the danger of what he was doing."

He later added of all the defendants: "They knew what they were doing was wrong; they knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry. But they did it anyway. In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being."