A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star’s overdose death was sentenced to 2½ years in prison on Wednesday.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to 44-year-old Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.

The judge emphasised that Plasencia did not provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him: “You and others helped Mr Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.”

“You exploited Mr Perry’s addiction for your own profit,” she said.

Plasencia was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother cried loudly in the audience. He might have arranged a date to surrender, but his lawyers said he was prepared to do it today.

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