LOS ANGELES (AP) — A physician who admitted to illegally distributing ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks leading up to the “Friends” star’s fatal overdose received a 2 1/2-year prison sentence on Wednesday.

In a Los Angeles federal courtroom, Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced 44-year-old Dr. Salvador Plasencia and imposed an additional two-year probation period.

While Judge Garnett clarified that Plasencia did not supply the ketamine responsible for Perry’s death, she remarked, “You and others contributed to Mr. Perry’s tragic path by continuously fueling his ketamine addiction.”

Addressing Plasencia, she added, “You took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own financial gain.”

As Plasencia was escorted out in handcuffs, his mother openly wept in the courtroom. Although he could have arranged for a later surrender date, his lawyers stated he was ready to begin his sentence immediately.

Perry’s mother and two half sisters gave tearful victim impact statements before the sentencing.

“The world mourns my brother,” Madeleine Morrison said. “He was everyone’s favorite friend.”

“My brother’s death turned my world upside down,” Morrison said, crying. “It punched a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere.”

Plasencia was the first to be sentenced of the five defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death at age 54 in 2023.

The doctor admitted to taking advantage of Perry, knowing he was a struggling addict. Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a “moron” who could be exploited for money, according to court filings.

Prosecutors had asked for three years in prison, while the defense sought just a day in prison plus probation.

Perry’s mother talked about the things he overcame in life and the strength he showed.

“I used to think he couldn’t die,” Suzanne Perry said as her husband, “Dateline” journalist Keith Morrison, stood at the podium with her.

“You called him a ‘moron,’” she said. “There is nothing moronic about that man. He was even a successful drug addict.”

She spoke eloquently and apologized for rambling before getting tearful at the end, saying, “this was a bad thing you did!” as she cried.

Plasencia also spoke before the sentencing, breaking into tears as he imagined the day he would have to tell his now 2-year-old son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son. It hurts me so much. I can’t believe I’m here.”

He apologized directly to Perry’s family. “I should have protected him,” he said.

Perry had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a treatment for depression. But when his regular doctor wouldn’t provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling to Perry and knowing he was a struggling addict.

Plasencia’s lawyers tried to give a sympathetic portrait of him as a man who rose out of poverty to become a doctor beloved by his patients, some of whom provided testimonials about him for the court.

The attorneys called his selling to Perry “reckless” and “the biggest mistake of his life.”

Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. Prosecutors agreed to drop five different counts. The agreement came with no sentencing guarantees, and legally, Garnett can give him up to 40 years.

The other four defendants who reached deals to plead guilty will be sentenced at their own hearings in the coming months.

Perry died at age 54 in 2023 after struggling with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when 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 NBC’s megahit.