Who are Salavador Plasencia, Erik Fleming and Mark Chavez? Charges against all the people charged in Matthew Perry's death explored

Nearly 10 months after the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. actor Matthew Perry’s death at 54, authorities have arrested five people in connection with his death. Each of them has been slammed with drug-related charges.

Among the detained, one person was Matthew’s live-in personal assistant, and two were doctors. The actor’s autopsy report had stated Ketamine was found in his blood, in an amount that is used for surgeries requiring anesthesia. Matthew, who had a longtime battle with addiction, eventually claimed to have overcome it in recent years. However, during the last months before his demise, the 54-year-old actor reportedly resorted to ketamine treatment for depression.

According to the Department of Justice, one of the two doctors, 42-year-old licensed physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, also known as "Dr. P" was involved in the unprofessionally distributing and prescribing of ketamine. Salvador, who is from Santa Monica, and the other doctor, 54-year-old Mark Chavez, separately attempted to be licensed by the Drug Enforcement Administration to prescribe controlled substances for medical motives.

Mark allegedly obtained ketamine and supplied them to Salvador, Matthew’s P.A. Kenneth Iwamasa, and Erik Fleming — the fourth individual arrested in this case.

Erik was reportedly one of Matthew Perry’s acquaintances who allegedly got hold of ketamine and dispensed it to the actor and Kenneth. Erik Fleming delivered 50 vials of the dissociative anesthetic to Matthew’s live-in assistant four days before his passing.

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Charges against the five arrested for Matthew Perry's death

Investigators found out that the five individuals learned of Matthew’s addiction history and schemed to use it to profit from him.

Salvador Plasencia, who was taken into custody on Thursday, was later brought to court on seven counts of distributing ketamine, one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine, and two counts of fabricating false documents that interfered with the federal investigation. Referring to Matthew Perry, the 42-year-old reportedly wrote to one of the other distributors via text:

"I wonder how much this moron will pay"

Ian V. Yanniello, an assistant U.S. Attorney, described Dr. Salvador as a “street corner drug dealer”. Salvador did not plead guilty to the charges and was booked on a $100,000 bond.

Salvador’s attorney Stefan Sacks asked if the court would permit the physician to take patients’ visitations after being released. However, Judge Alka Sagar ruled for Salvador to continue seeing patients only on the condition that they were informed of his legal charges and sign a document confirming it.

Mark Chavez, whose location was reportedly traced back to San Diego's La Jolla as per his medical license, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to dispense ketamine. He was accused of using a false prescription to get ketamine from a drug distributor.

Erik Fleming pleaded guilty to getting hold of ketamine from another arrest and delivering it to Matthew’s P.A. Kenneth Iwamasa. According to the court filing, Fleming admitted to dispensing the drug to Matthew and Kenneth.

Attorney Martin Estrada said,

"These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves."

Estrada added the defendants were aware of their actions and how it was harming Matthew Perry but proceeded with their scheme, regardless.