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Ed Buck charged with four additional felonies

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Democratic donor Edward Buck made headlines again after his last arrest in September 2019. A Los Angeles federal grand jury charged Buck with four additional felonies on an updated indictment, which sums it up to nine counts, the Department of Justice disclosed.

The additional charges include luring his victims to travel interstate to engage in prostitution, as well as purposely distributing methamphetamine, and using his residence to intentionally administer narcotics such as clonazepam, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), and methamphetamine.

“We’re happy that the Department of Justice is taking this case seriously, but we are still disappointed in L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s failure to take action against Ed Buck,”  activist and journalist Jasmyne Cannick said in a statement. “Jackie Lacey’s failure to take the accounts of Black gay men seriously is the reason that Timothy Dean is dead.”

A year ago, Buck was charged with a five-count indictment by a federal grand jury which said that Buck, “engaged in a pattern of soliciting men to consume drugs that Buck provided and perform sexual acts at Buck’s apartment,” known as the code word “party and play.”

Allegedly, Buck sought his victims on gay dating apps and websites, as well as social media platforms. He also used a recruiter to find men.

According to the indictment, Buck allegedly prepared and administered syringes containing methamphetamine, and injected the victims without their consent, and also when they were already unconscious.

Last year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office also filed charges against Buck in regard to operating a so-called “drug den.” Buck is facing a minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each charge, and a maximum penalty of life without parole. The additional four charges add a statutory maximum sentence of 60 years in federal prison. Currently, Buck is held in federal custody without bond and is scheduled to head to trial on Jan. 19, 2021, with the federal charges to be expected to move first.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are investigating the federal case, and are being supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

“The additional indictments against Ed Buck just further prove that the men who came forward and told their stories of the White man in West Hollywood who loved to inject Black men with meth, were true,” Cannick said. “We expect that as the investigation continues even more indictments will be brought against Ed Buck.”

The two men who died of a methamphetamine overdose in Buck’s West Hollywood apartment were Gemmell Moore and Timothy Dean. The third victim – a 37-year-old African-American man who escaped and is referred to as “Joe Doe” in court documents – was also given a high dose of methamphetamine, prosecutors declared. After being able to escape, the man called 911 which led to Buck’s final arrest and the discovery of several hundred “questionable” photographs of men posing in Buck’s apartment.

Buck’s story might sound familiar, as one user commented on the Fox News site , “He took a page or two out of Jeffrey Dahmer’s playbook.”

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