A gay man and a prominent Democratic donor was arrested yesterday as someone almost died in his home due to a drug overdose. Two other men had already died in his home of drug overdoses in the previous two years.
Prosecutors now say that Ed Buck, who lives in West Hollywood, is a sexual predator who preyed on black men who were struggling with homelessness. They believe that he had a “sexual fetish” for injecting his victims with meth to the point of overdose.
Related: Congressman donates gay donor’s contributions following second mysterious death
But, even if he’s convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of five years and eight months.
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In 2017, Gemmel Moore died of an overdose in Buck’s apartment. Moore was a young, black sex worker, and several people who knew him said that Buck, who is white, got sexual pleasure from giving drugs to black men and watching them take them. Paramedic’s found Moore naked in Buck’s living room, which was full of drug paraphernalia.
At the time, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office believed that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him and he wasn’t arrested.
This past January, Timothy Dean, 55, was found dead in Buck’s apartment due to a meth overdose. Again, Buck wasn’t arrested, despite outcry from Los Angeles’s black LGBTQ community.
Now a third victim, who has been identified as “Joe Doe” in court documents, said that he went to Buck’s apartment on September 4 where Buck injected him with meth. He went to get medical help because he thought he was overdosing.
He returned a week later and Buck injected him with “two dangerously large” doses of meth.
According to investigators, Buck prevented Doe from calling for help, but Doe escaped the apartment and called 911. He got treatment, and police searched Buck’s home and found hundreds of pictures of “men in compromising positions,” according to the LA Times.
LaTisha Nixon, the mother of Gemmel Moore, Buck’s first alleged victim, has long suspected that Buck was able to elude prosecution because his victims were poor and black and he is rich and white. She filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Buck earlier this year.
“If the dead body of a blond-haired, blue-eyed white man was found in the home of an older black man, he’d be lucky to even make it to the police station alive,” Nixon’s attorney said.
Commentator Jasmyne Cannick has been trying to draw attention to Moore’s death and Buck’s alleged predatory behavior.
“Today is like a celebration for us,” she said at a rally last night.
“I feel vindicated for all the people who said it was never going to happen,” Cannick said. “I feel really good for all the young men he took advantage of because they didn’t feel like anyone took them seriously, like their lives weren’t important enough for anyone to really care about.”
“Black gay men’s lives matter. The whole black LGBT community is going to be celebrating this evening because our lives matter, and people need to know that. Even if we’re sex workers, even if we’re on drugs, even if we’re homeless, we’re still part of the black community, still part of the LGBT community.”
Buck was held in custody overnight. Prosecutors have recommended bail be set at $4 million.
