(Los Angeles) One of two doctors charged in connection with the death of actor Matthew Perry made his first appearance in federal court in Los Angeles Friday after reaching an agreement to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors.
The Dr Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, appeared in court with his attorney and told the judge he understood his rights. Federal Judge Jean P. Rosenbluth told him he could remain free on bail with several restrictions, including surrendering his passport and not working as a doctor. He agreed to surrender his medical license.
The Dr Chavez signed a deal with prosecutors earlier this month to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine, a surgical anesthetic. He has not entered a plea or spoken about the case, which he will do with another judge at a date to be determined.
“He is incredibly remorseful,” Mr. Chavez’s lawyer, Matthew Binninger, said outside court, the doctor standing by his side. “He is trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened here. He didn’t accept responsibility today, but only because it wasn’t on the schedule.”
Me Binninger added: “He is doing everything in his power to cooperate and help resolve this situation.”
The lawyer said Mr Perry was “universally loved, and it’s a disgrace what happened”.
Mr Chavez is believed to be the third person to plead guilty in the show’s star’s fatal overdose. Friends last year.
PHOTO DAMIAN DOVARGANES, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Dr Mark Chavez
Mr. Chavez has also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as they pursue other people, including the doctor Mr. Chavez worked with to sell ketamine to Mr. Perry.
The actor’s assistant, who admitted helping him obtain and inject ketamine, and an acquaintance of Mr. Perry, who admitted acting as a courier and conduit for drugs, are also working with the U.S. attorney’s office.
All three are helping prosecutors in their pursuit of their main targets: Dr Salvador Plasencia, accused of illegally selling ketamine to Matthew Perry the month before his death, and Jasveen Sangha, a woman authorities say was a trafficker who sold the actor the fatal dose of ketamine.
Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. They are scheduled to appear in court for a status conference on Wednesday.
Mark Chavez admitted in his plea agreement that he obtained ketamine from his former clinic and from a wholesale distributor where he submitted a fraudulent prescription. After pleading guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
“I wonder how much this idiot will pay.”
Matthew Perry was found dead by his assistant on October 28. The medical examiner concluded that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor as part of a legal, but unlicensed, treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.
Looking for more ketamine than his doctor was giving him, Mr. Perry found D.r Salvador Plasencia about a month before his death, who in turn asked Mr. Chavez to get him the medicine.
“I wonder how much this idiot is going to pay,” Mr. Plasencia texted Mark Chavez. The two met that same day in Costa Mesa, between Los Angeles and San Diego, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine.
After selling the drugs to Mr. Perry for $4,500, Mr. Plasencia asked Mr. Chavez if he could continue to supply them to him so that they could become Mr. Perry’s suppliers.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in announcing the charges on August 15 that “doctors took advantage of Mr. Perry’s history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to provide him with ketamine in amounts they knew were dangerous.”
Mr. Plasencia is charged with seven counts of distributing ketamine and two counts related to allegations he falsified records after Mr. Perry’s death.
Him and Mme Sangha is expected back in court next week. Their separate trials are scheduled for October, but prosecutors are seeking a single trial that would likely be postponed until next year.
Matthew Perry has struggled with addiction for years, ever since his time on Friendswhere he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004, on the hit NBC series.