US doctor who helped sell ketamine to Matthew Perry avoids prison time
Mark Chavez was sentenced to eight months of home confinement and must do 300 hours of community service
A doctor who pleaded guilty in a scheme to supply ketamine to actor Matthew Perry before his overdose death was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included three years of supervised release to 55-year-old Mark Chavez in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.
Before the sentence was delivered, Chavez addressed the judge and said he had lost a loved one recently and understood the grief that Perry’s death has caused.
“I just want to say my heart goes out to the Perry family,” he said.
Chavez acquired ketamine and gave it to Salvador Plasencia, who was sentenced to 2½ years in prison earlier this month for selling ketamine to Perry in the months leading up to his death.
Chavez’s lawyers emphasised the difference between the two doctors and said that Chavez “accepted responsibility early” by cooperating with investigators and voluntarily giving up his medical licence ahead of his detention hearing.