Prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck was reportedly arrested Tuesday after another man overdosed on methamphetamine at his California apartment.
Buck was charged with maintaining a drug house at his West Hollywood address and accused of supplying meth last Wednesday to a 37-year-old man who overdosed, but survived, according to KABC.
Buck injected the man with “two dangerously large” doses of methamphetamine, prosecutors said, according to the LA Times.
“With this new evidence, I authorized the filing of criminal charges against Ed Buck,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement obtained by the newspaper.
Before last week, two other men fatally overdosed on meth at Buck’s residence, but no charges were brought against him in those cases.
The lack of legal action following in the deaths of Gemmel Moore, 26, and Timothy Dean, 55, sparked protests calling for Buck’s arrest, the network said.
Los Angeles prosecutors portrayed Buck as a sexual deviant who preys on vulnerable victims.
“From his home, in a position of power, Buck manipulates his victims into participating in his sexual fetishes,” prosecutors wrote in court papers obtained by the newspaper.
“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.”
Moore, who was homeless and worked as a prostitute, died at Buck’s home in July 2017. In his journal, which was reviewed by the LA Times, Moore blamed Buck for his drug addiction.
“I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” Moore reportedly wrote in the diary. “Ed Buck is the one to thank, he gave me my first injection of chrystal meth.”
Dean was found dead at Buck’s pad last January.
At the time, Buck’s lawyer told the LA Times that he believed Dean ingested the drug before getting to his client’s house.
“From what I know, it was an old friend who died of an accidental overdose, and unfortunately, we believe that the substance was ingested at some place other than the apartment,” Buck’s attorney, Seymour Amster, told the newspaper.
In addition to maintaining a drug house, Buck on Tuesday was also charged with battery causing serious injury and administering methamphetamine.
Prosecutors are requesting Buck’s bail be set at $4 million. His arraignment is set for Wednesday.
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