Big-money Democratic donor Ed Buck has been arrested after men overdosed on meth in his home.
The political donor, 65, was detained after a 37-year-old man overdosed at his home in West Hollywood on September 11, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
He has been charged with one felony count each of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house.
The DA’s office said: “On September 11, Buck is accused of injecting the victim with methamphetamine at the defendant’s apartment in the 1200 block of Laurel Avenue, in West Hollywood.
“The man suffered an overdose but survived… The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”
Drug-related deaths fuelled anger at Ed Buck.
Buck has previously faced scrutiny over a number of deaths at his home.
Gemmel Moore, a 26-year-old gay escort, died of a methamphetamine overdose at Buck’s home in July 2017.
A second man, gay porn actor Timothy Michael Dean, overdosed at Buck’s home in January 2019.
Both of the deceased men were African-American.
Prosecutors claim Ed Buck, pictured with Republican Meg Whitman, administered “dangerously large doses of narcotics to his victims.” (Ann Johansson/Corbis via Getty)
The DA’s office had previously opened an investigation after Moore’s death, but declined to file charges against Buck.
The deaths led to wide-scale protests and calls for politicians to hand back donations from Buck, who previously served on the steering committee of the Stonewall Democratic Club.
Men ‘vulnerable to criminal predators’.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said: “I remain deeply concerned for the safety of people whose life circumstances may make them more vulnerable to criminal predators.
“With this new evidence, I authorised the filing of criminal charges against Ed Buck.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, prosecutors claim in court documents: “From his home, in a position of power, Buck manipulates his victims into participating in his sexual fetishes.
“These fetishes include supplying and personally administering dangerously large doses of narcotics to his victims.
“Not deterred by the senseless deaths of Moore and Dean, the defendant nearly killed a third victim last week.”
They added: “The full scope of his consistent malicious behaviour is unknown… it is only a matter of time before another one of these vulnerable young men dies of an overdose.”
Buck faces a possible maximum sentence of five years and eight months in state prison under the charges, with prosecutors recommending bail is set at $4 million.
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