Dr. Mark Chavez is one of five people who have been charged over the Friends star's death. He is the third to plead guilty.
A San Diego doctor became the third doctor to plead guilty in the case of Matthew Perry’s , as prosecutors collect cooperators in an attempt to convict two bigger targets they say are responsible for the . Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, entered the plea yesterday to a felony count of conspiring to distribute the in federal court in Los Angeles, after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors in July.
Chavez agreed to cooperate as the US Attorneys Office pursues more serious charges against Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who prosecutors say gave ketamine directly to Perry. The other major target in the investigation is Jasmine Sangha, an alleged dealer who prosecutors say was known as the “ketamine queen” of Los Angeles and supplied the doses that killed Perry last year.
Chavez stood in court with his lawyer and answered dozens of questions from Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett. He agreed to give up his right to trial and other rights. He listened to prosecutors as they read through every instance of him meeting with Plasencia between San Diego and Los Angeles to hand off ketamine he got using fraudulent prescriptions.
In all, he admitted to supplying 22 5-milliliter vials of ketamine and nine ketamine lozenges. Chavez cleared his throat when a prosecutor described Perry’s death. “Are you pleading guilty because you did the things the prosecutors described?” Garn.
