Democratic Donor Ed Buck Indicted For 2 Overdose Deaths

Prosecutors said Buck preyed on vulnerable men, most of them black, and pressured them to let him inject them with drugs as part of a sexual ritual.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wealthy California political donor Ed Buck was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury for two overdose deaths in his West Hollywood apartment and charges he provided methamphetamine to three other men, one of whom survived two overdoses.

The indictment returned in U.S. District Court charged Buck with distributing meth resulting in the deaths of Timothy Dean in January and Gemmel Moore in 2017. Buck had previously been charged in Moore’s death after his arrest last month.

Buck, 65, who is white and has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic causes, preyed on vulnerable men, most of them black, some of them homeless and addicted to drugs, and pressured them to let him inject them with drugs as part of a sexual ritual, prosecutors said.

A defense lawyer has previously said Buck, 65, denies a role in both deaths.

In addition to including a charge for Dean’s death, the indictment adds charges that Buck provided meth to three other men, including one who said Buck threatened him with a power saw in December if he didn’t leave his apartment and another who overdosed twice in a week last month before escaping the home to get help.

That last victim’s harrowing account led to Buck’s arrest _ more than two years after activists began staging rallies outside his rent-controlled apartment and pressuring the local district attorney to bring charges in the July 27, 2017 death of Moore, 26.

Moore’s mother and her supporters have said Buck got favorable treatment because of his status and reputation and that the victims were ignored because they were gay black men, drug users and often sex workers. The activists had repeatedly warned that if Buck wasn’t stopped, others would die.

Five months after Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to bring charges in Moore’s death, Dean, 55, was found dead Jan. 7 on the floor of Buck’s living room the same place Moore died.

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