A makeshift memorial for actor Matthew Perry, the wise-cracking co-star of the 1990s hit television sitcom "Friends," who was found dead at his Los Angeles home on October 28, is pictured on Bedford Street in Manhattan in New York City, U.S., October 30, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar

By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES, Dec 3 (Reuters) - A California doctor was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison on Wednesday for illegally supplying "Friends" sitcom star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor's drug overdose death in 2023.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who operated an urgent-care clinic outside Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in federal court in July to four felony counts of illegal distribution of the prescription anesthetic. He surrendered his medical license in September. He could have faced up to 40 years in prison for the crime.

Perry was found by his live-in assistant floating face down and lifeless in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home in October 2023. He was 54. An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the "acute effects of ketamine," which combined with other factors in causing the actor to lose consciousness and drown.

Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.

Plasencia acknowledged then that he injected Perry with ketamine at the actor's home and in the back seat of a parked car, and that doing so was not for legitimate medical purposes.

Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series "Friends."

According to federal law enforcement officials at the time charges were brought in the case, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.

When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere who saw Perry as a way to make quick money satisfying what became his latest addiction, authorities said.

Plasencia, who practiced medicine in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas, said he obtained the ketamine from another doctor, co-defendant Mark Chavez of San Diego. According to court filings, Plasencia once texted Chavez about Perry, writing, "I wonder how much this moron will pay."

Addressing the court before the judge imposed sentence on Wednesday, amid audible sobs from his mother and Perry's relatives, Plasencia expressed remorse and said he took full responsibility for his actions.

"I failed Mr. Perry, I failed his family, and I failed the community," he said, before turning to directly face members of Perry's family seated in the courtroom and added, "I'm just so sorry."

Four other defendants, including Chavez, have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry's death and are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)