Democratic donor Ed Buck facing four more charges in overdose deaths

Democratic donor Ed Buck, who is accused of injecting men with drugs during sexual encounters, has been charged with another four felonies in the overdose deaths of a sex worker and at least one other man.

Buck was arrested in September 2019 after 26-year-old Gemmel Moore was found dead inside his West Hollywood home. The well-known businessman is also accused of similarly causing the overdoes of 55-year-old Timothy Dean, who died on January 7, 2019.

He was previously indicted by a grand jury on three counts of distributing methamphetamine and two of distributing methamphetamine resulting in death in connection with the overdoses. Since then, authorities have continued to investigate Buck, who is also a well-known LGBTQ advocate.

On Tuesday, a grand jury returned four new counts against the 65-year-old, including charges alleging that he “knowingly enticed” Moore and one other man to journey to the Los Angeles area “to engage in prostitution.”

Buck was also hit with one charge of knowingly and intentionally distributing methamphetamine and one charge of using his residence for the purpose of distributing narcotics, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Prosecutors have said Buck used social media, including gay dating websites, to scout out different men, who would then be approached by one of his recruiters. According to the grand jury’s federal indictment last year, he “engaged in a pattern of soliciting men to consume drugs that Buck provided and perform sexual acts at Buck’s apartment,” which is a practice described as “party and play.”

Once the men were in his home, Buck would allegedly inject them with methamphetamine despite not having consent. Some victims said they were unconscious when he dosed them with the drug while others said they were given more narcotics than expected.

“Buck exerted power over his victims,” the indictment reads, “often targeting vulnerable individuals who were destitute, homeless, and/or struggled with drug addiction, in order to exploit the relative wealth and power imbalance between them.”