A prominent Democratic donor was arrested in California and charged with operating a drug house after a third man suffered a drug overdose in his apartment.
Democratic megadonor Ed Buck was arrested Tuesday after a 37-year-old man suffered an overdose when he was injected with methamphetamine at Buck’s West Hollywood apartment last week, KTLA reported.
(Video: YouTube/KCAL)
According to officials, the 65-year-old political activist and fundraiser was charged with three counts of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house. Buck’s latest victim survived the overdose, unlike the two men who suffered methamphetamine overdoses at his apartment and died 18 months apart.
Buck allegedly brought the latest victim to his apartment on Sept. 4 and injected him with a large amount of methamphetamine which left the man thinking he was having an overdose. He left the apartment to seek medical help but returned again last week when Buck again personally administered two large doses of methamphetamine, according to court records.
The man’s attempts to get help were allegedly thwarted by Buck who refused to personally assist him. The victim was able to flee the apartment and called 911 from a nearby gas station. He was treated at a hospital and survived the incident, KTLA reported.
BREAKING – After two men died in his apartment — @LADAOffice — has filed felony charges against prominent Democratic Party donor and activist Ed Buck @nbcla w/@anblanx pic.twitter.com/NW0pkIU5Zq
— Eric Leonard (@LeonardFiles) September 18, 2019
Buck, who once ran for West Hollywood City Council, has been a prominent donor to Democratic politicians and an LGBTQ activist.
Ed Buck with Democrats Ted Lieu, Clinton, Adam Schiff and former California Gov Brown. pic.twitter.com/1cTDT9GQMx
— Kambree Kawahine Koa (@KamVTV) September 18, 2019
@RepAdamSchiff & Ed Buck just hangin’ out pic.twitter.com/5ipVwq94Mv
— – simply balance – (@Synergist_Exp) September 18, 2019
Look who hangs out with Ed Buck pic.twitter.com/frPGS6NxVm
— Rob Dew (@DewsNewz) September 18, 2019
How much money did Ed Buck throw at you? pic.twitter.com/oVKgo2ZYAG
— Bellerophon Murungu (@ineffableimages) January 8, 2019
Buck allegedly manipulated his victims by using his position of power to influence them into participating in his sexual fetishes, according to prosecutors.
“These fetishes include supplying and personally administering dangerously large doses of narcotics to his victims,” prosecutors wrote in court papers, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Past incidents with similar circumstances previously put Buck in the spotlight with the deaths of the two black men in his apartment.
Gemmel Moore was found dead of a drug overdose in July 2017 in Buck’s apartment but prosecutors could not find enough evidence to charge Buck and ruled the 26-year-old gay prostitute’s death an accidental methamphetamine overdose. Insufficient evidence was again cited by prosecutors when Buck was not charged with the death of 55-year-old Timothy Dean, who died of methamphetamine and alcohol toxicity 18 months later.
Protests erupt when second black man, in less than 2 years, found dead in prominent Dem donor’s home https://t.co/dB0ZdUDgub pic.twitter.com/YUIIiGJune
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) January 8, 2019
Buck was portrayed as a “violent, dangerous sexual predator” in court documents filed on Tuesday which allege that the high-profile donor enticed victims struggling with drug addictions or homelessness using money, shelter, and drugs as bait and then manipulating “them into participating in his sexual fetishes.”
Court records revealed that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department found hundreds of photographs of men in compromising positions taken in Buck’s apartment, according to KTLA.
“The full scope of his consistent malicious behavior is unknown,” prosecutors said. “It is only a matter of time before another one of these vulnerable young men dies of an overdose.”
Bail of $4 million was being sought by prosecutors. Buck’s maximum sentence, if convicted, could be five years and eight months in state prison, according to KTLA. He is due in court on Wednesday.
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Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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