Democratic donor Ed Buck charged after another overdose at his LA home

According to the LA Times, prominent California donor Ed Buck was charged with battery causing injury, operating a drug house and providing methamphetamine to a 37-year-old who overdosed at his home in West Hollywood last week. Buck has faced scrutiny in the past year after several mysterious drug-related deaths at his home.

 Democratic Party political donor Ed 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.

“I remain deeply concerned for the safety of people whose life circumstances may make them more vulnerable to criminal predators,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement. “With this new evidence, I authorized the filing of criminal charges against Ed Buck.”

Prosecutors recommended bail be set at $4 million in a motion that called Buck a “violent, dangerous sexual predator,” who “mainly preys on men made vulnerable by addiction and homelessness.”

The motion went on to say that Buck used the bait of “narcotics, money, and shelter” to lure victims to him home where, “in a position of power, Buck manipulates his victims into participating in his sexual fetishes.”

According to the motion, Buck’s actions “led to the death of two men in Buck’s apartment, Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean.”

“The defendant’s predatory acts and conscious disregard for human life must be stopped,” the motion said.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. Buck’s attorney said he would fight the charges against his client “vigorously.”

If convicted as charged, Buck faces a possible maximum sentence of five years and eight months in state prison.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.