Democratic donor Ed Buck now faces a federal charge of giving methamphetamine to a 26 year-old man who died of an overdose, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
Democratic donor Ed Buck will be charged in federal court on Thursday with a drug trafficking offense, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case said.
Buck is charged with one count of distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death, a criminal complaint said. He gave 26-year-old Gemmel Moore the dose of methamphetamine that led to Moore’s death in Buck’s home on July 27, 2017, the complaint said.
A second man died from a drug overdose in Buck’s apartment this year, and Buck also gave drugs to several other men, one of whom suffered two overdoses several weeks ago, the complaint said.
The prominent donor solicited men for sex in exchange for drugs and money, US Attorney Nick Hanna said. Buck is believed to have held victims against their will, and injected them with drugs against will, Hanna said.
Buck brought Moore to Los Angeles “for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. And then Mr. Buck agreed to pay the victim with money and narcotics,” Hanna said.
Moore’s death was ruled an accidental methamphetamine overdose, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.
Moore’s mother told investigators that her son reported months before his death that Buck had held him “against his will and shot him up with drugs,” Hanna said.
Investigators have found 10 more victims, nine of whom said Buck “administered drugs to them or strongly encouraged them to ingest narcotics as part of agreements to be compensated for sexual service,” Hanna said.
Buck is expected to be arraigned in federal court on Thursday. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
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Buck’s attorney Seymour Amster declined to comment after the federal charge was announced.
Buck already faces state felony charges of maintaining a drug house, battery causing serious injury and administering methamphetamine. His arraignment for those charges was postponed until October 11.
Buck is accused of injecting a 37-year-old man with methamphetamine at his West Hollywood apartment on September 11, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. The man suffered a nonfatal overdose.
“This is a case that there have been a lot of activists’ interaction on it, thinking that charges should have been brought before there were,” Amster said before the federal charge was announced.
“We will fight this case vigorously, but I’m not so sure legitimately there was ever enough evidence to ever cause this case to be filed until recently,” he added.
Buck was previously being held on $4 million bail.
