Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor who has been under suspicion and accused of murder for years after two black men died of meth overdoses (Timothy Dean last January, Gemmel Moore in July 2017) at his West Hollywood apartment, has been arrested following another man's overdose last week. The third man, who escaped Buck's apartment, gave authorities the evidence they said they required to make an arrest.
“Sheriff's investigators found hundreds of photographs in Buck's home of men in compromising positions,” the L.A. Times reports.
Prosecutors called Buck a “violent, dangerous sexual predator” with “no regard for human life” who “mainly preys on men made vulnerable by addiction and homelessness.”
CBS LA reports: “Buck was charged Tuesday with allegedly running a drug den out of his West Hollywood apartment and providing methamphetamine to a 37-year-old man who suffered an overdose last week, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said. Buck, 65, was charged with one felony count each of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house. According to the DA's office, Buck was accused with injecting the victim with methamphetamine at the defendant's apartment in the 1200 block of Laurel Avenue in West Hollywood. The man survived.”
In January, “a coalition of 50 civil rights organizations — including Equality California, the ACLU, the National LGBTQ Task Force and the National Black Justice Coalition — called for a thorough investigation and for politicians to return all money Buck donated to their campaigns,” the L.A. Times reported.
Jasmyne Cannick, a political consultant and advocate for Moore's family who has been pushing for Buck's arrest for years, spoke out on Twitter after the arrest.
Said Cannick, in part (read the whole thread for full statement): “Like I've been saying all along, Buck has never stopped the same behavior that cost Gemmel and Timothy their lives. All this time Ed Buck has been operating with the impunity he knows he has as a white man. He wasn't sneaking these men into his apartment or even trying to hide his behavior. But it's a start. Ultimately, I want to see Ed Buck charged with the deaths of the Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean–and I am not giving up hope on that happening.
The L.A. Times reports: ‘Cannick has said she believed Buck got special treatment because of his political activism and fundraising for Democratic candidates, a charge officials have denied, and because he was white and Moore and Dean were black. “I feel vindicated for all the people who said it was never going to happen,” she 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.” Cannick said she called Moore's mother and Dean's sister to tell them about the arrest, and “we were all crying.”'
Buck is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.
Micheal Rice, the director of the film parTyboi: black boys in ice castles, a documentary about the crystal meth epidemic which contained a segment about Buck, spoke with Towleroad about the Democratic donor in an interview in January.
Rice said he believed Buck to be “a sadistic man who receives pleasure from the pain of others and in this case — the pain of disadvantaged young gay Black men.”
ICYMI: ‘parTy boi' Director Micheal Rice Talks About Ed Buck And Meth In The Black Gay Community: WATCH
Added Rice: “Many clients/victims of Buck reported the constant use of the N-word during their visit, removal of their own clothes to wear items Buck lays out for them [ white long johns] and lastly to financially reward his guest by having victims or himself shoot large amounts of meth into their bodies to see the amount their bodies could withstand before passing out or overdosing… it's sick, it is almost reminiscent of 19th century New Orleans serial killer Madame LaLaurie. He targets those young black men that are socially disadvantaged or in need of help with promises of financial reward or shelter in order to fulfill his slave play fetishes and meth induced like experiments.”
