The main doctor charged in connection with the drug overdose of actor Matthew Perry is expected to enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks, the US Justice Department has said.
Salvador Plasencia "has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison," the department said in a statement.
The second doctor in the case, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty last October to conspiring to distribute ketamine in the weeks before the actor was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in 2023.
Mr Perry's lengthy struggles with substance addiction were well-documented, but his death aged 54 sent shockwaves through the industry.
A criminal investigation was launched soon after an autopsy discovered he had high levels of ketamine - an anaesthetic - in his system.
Dr Plasencia allegedly bought ketamine off Chavez and sold it to the American-Canadian actor at hugely inflated prices.
"I wonder how much this moron will pay," Dr Plasencia wrote in one text message presented by prosecutors.
He went to Mr Perry's home to administer ketamine by injection, according to a plea deal published by the Justice Department.
In total, Dr Plasencia distributed 20 vials of ketamine over a roughly two-week period in autumn 2023, the document said.
Mr Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.
However, prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.
Dark struggle
Five people have been charged over Mr Perry's death.
Jasveen Sangha, the alleged 'Ketamine Queen' who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, is charged with selling Mr Perry the dose that killed him. She has pleaded not guilty.
Mr Perry's live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty last August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Mr Perry rose to fame as Chandler Bing in the television series Friends, but he struggled with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.
In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries.
In his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Mr Perry described going through detox dozens of times.
"I have mostly been sober since 2001," he wrote, "save for about 60 or 70 little mishaps."
