Matthew Perry Dr. Plasencia I Was A Drug Dealer, Not A Doctor ... Appeals 30-Month Sentence

Published June 9, 2026 1:00 AM PDT

One of the doctors convicted in the Matthew Perry ketamine case is embracing a label most physicians would run from ... telling an appeals court he was functioning as a drug dealer, not a doctor, when he sold ketamine in this case.

According to new court documents, obtained by TMZ, Dr. Salvador Plasencia is asking the Ninth Circuit to toss his 30-month prison sentence and send his case back for resentencing ... arguing the judge wrongly punished him for abusing a physician's position of trust.

In the filing, Plasencia makes a stunning claim ... insisting Perry wasn't seeking him out for legitimate medical treatment, but was instead looking for a reliable source of ketamine. Because of that, his attorneys argue, he shouldn't have been treated as a doctor who betrayed a patient, but rather as a more common drug dealer.

The appeal repeatedly compares Plasencia to the other defendants caught up in the ketamine scandal ... arguing his role was closer to that of a drug dealer than a physician providing medical care.

Plasencia is also challenging several other aspects of his sentence, including what his lawyers describe as improper double-counting tied to allegations he altered records during the investigation.

He's further arguing he received a harsher punishment than fellow defendants Mark Chavez and Erik Fleming, claiming the disparity was unfair.

As TMZ previously reported, Plasencia pleaded guilty to four ketamine-distribution counts and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Prosecutors alleged he supplied ketamine to Perry in the weeks before the actor's death.

Bottom line ... Plasencia is not disputing the crime, he's arguing he shouldn't have been given a harsher sentence than the others who also supplied ketamine to Perry.