XPost: la.general, alt.politics.media, rec.arts.tv.comedy.colbert-report   
   XPost: dc.politics   
   From: ed.buck.stroked.gavin-newsom@disney.com   
      
   LOS ANGELES — Prominent Democratic Party donor Ed Buck appeared   
   in court Thursday on state charges of running a drug den in his   
   West Hollywood apartment, where a near-fatal overdose allegedly   
   occurred last week, but he may also face federal prosecution for   
   an earlier overdose death in the same residence.   
      
   Two fatal overdoses have occurred in Buck’s apartment — one in   
   July 2017 and another in January of this year.   
      
   His arraignment on the charges was postponed until Oct. 11.   
      
   Buck, who is being held in lieu of $4 million bail, allegedly   
   injected a man last week with “two dangerously large doses” of   
   methamphetamine at Buck’s apartment in the 1200 block of Laurel   
   Avenue on Sept. 11. He allegedly administering a “dangerously   
   large dose of methamphetamine” to the same man on week earlier,   
   according to a bail memorandum filed by Deputy District Attorney   
   Cynthia Barnes.   
      
   Buck allegedly refused to render aid to the man, who eventually   
   fled from the apartment and called 911 from a nearby gas   
   station, according to the document. The 37-year-old man suffered   
   an overdose but survived, authorities said.   
      
   Buck’s attorney, Seymour Amster, has denied that his client —   
   who allegedly was present at the location when the earlier fatal   
   overdoses occurred — had any involvement in either death. He   
   declined to comment on the newly filed case.   
      
   Buck, 65, was charged with one felony count each of battery   
   causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and   
   maintaining a drug house, the District Attorney’s Office   
   announced Tuesday evening after Buck’s arrest. He appeared   
   briefly in court in downtown Los Angeles, but his arraignment   
   was delayed until Oct. 11.   
      
   In a memorandum filed with the court, the prosecutor wrote that   
   Buck is “a violent, dangerous sexual predator” who “mainly preys   
   on men made vulnerable by addiction and homelessness” and that   
   he is “still a suspect in the deaths of Gemmel Moore and Timothy   
   Dean.”   
      
   Moore, 26, was the first of two men to die at Buck’s apartment   
   in less than 18 months. He was found dead of a crystal   
   methamphetamine overdose in Buck’s home on July 27, 2017. The   
   coroner ruled the death accidental.   
      
   On Jan. 7 of this year, a second man died of methamphetamine   
   toxicity at Buck’s home. The death of Timothy Dean, 55, of West   
   Hollywood, was also ruled accidental.   
      
   On Wednesday, multiple media outlets — citing anonymous law   
   enforcement sources — reported that Buck will also be charged in   
   federal court in connection with the July 27, 2017, overdose   
   death of Moore.   
      
   According to the reports, Buck will be charged with distributing   
   drugs, resulting in death.   
      
   Last summer, the county District Attorney’s Office declined to   
   file charges against Buck regarding Moore’s death, citing   
   insufficient evidence. As for Dean’s death, the District   
   Attorney’s Office has said that it remains under investigation.   
      
   But both deaths are cited in the bail memorandum filed by Barnes   
   this week upon Buck’s arrest.   
      
   “Not deterred by the senseless deaths of Moore and Dean, the   
   defendant nearly killed a third victim last week,” the deputy   
   district attorney wrote. “The defendant’s predatory acts and   
   conscious disregard for human life must be stopped.”   
      
   The prosecutor alleged that Buck lured “these vulnerable   
   victims” to his house by using “the bait of narcotics, money and   
   shelter.”   
      
   “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,” Barnes   
   wrote in her court filing. “The defendant’s predatory acts and   
   willful disregard for human life must be stopped before another   
   life is lost.”   
      
   If convicted as charged, Buck faces a possible prison sentence   
   of five years and eight months, according to the District   
   Attorney’s Office.   
      
   In a statement released after Buck’s arrest, 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 authorized the   
   filing of criminal charges against Ed Buck.”   
      
   Buck and Lacey are being sued in federal court over Moore’s   
   death. Moore’s mother alleges that Buck lured her son from   
   Houston to Los Angeles for the purpose of engaging in   
   “commercial” sex acts.   
      
      
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