XPost: la.general, alt.politics.media, rec.arts.tv.comedy.colbert-report   
   XPost: dc.politics   
   From: ed.buck.rammed.eric.garcetti@disney.com   
      
   An influential-turned-disgraced gay Democratic donor who has   
   been linked to multiple overdose-related deaths of vulnerable   
   black gay men in his Los Angeles home was arrested on September   
   17 after yet another man overdosed in his home last week,   
   prosecutors in Los Angeles announced.   
      
   The LA County District Attorney’ s Office said 65-year-old Ed   
   Buck, who has steered many thousands of dollars into the war   
   chests of Democratic candidates over the years, was charged with   
   felony counts of battery causing serious injury, administering   
   meth, and maintaining a drug house after he allegedly injected a   
   man with meth in his West Hollywood apartment on September 11.   
      
   Prosecutors say that same man had been at Buck’s house on   
   September 4 and left once he realized Buck had “personally and   
   deliberately” drugged him to the point where the man feared he   
   had overdosed, according to court documents filed in the case.   
   When the man returned on September 11, Buck allegedly injected   
   him with “two dangerously large” doses of meth and tried   
   convincing the man to stay. The victim said he managed to flee   
   the house and hurried to a gas station, where he called 911 and   
   was taken to a hospital.   
      
   Upon searching Buck’s home, prosecutors discovered hundreds of   
   photos of men “in compromising positions,” though they did not   
   spell out specifically what that characterization meant.   
      
   Others who have stepped into Buck’ s home over the years did not   
   manage to escape. Two black men — 26-year-old Gemmel Moore and   
   55-year-old Timothy Dean — died of meth overdoses at Buck’ s   
   home in 2017 and January of this year, respectively. Prosecutors   
   until this point had not gathered enough evidence to charge   
   Buck. After the latest overdose, however, prosecutors made it   
   clear they believe Buck is a sexual predator who has recklessly   
   drugged men.   
      
   “From his home, in a position of power, Buck manipulates his   
   victims into participating in his sexual fetishes,” prosecutors   
   stated in court papers. “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, whose body was found surrounded by drug paraphernalia in   
   July of 2017, explained Buck’ s predatory behavior in great   
   detail in journal entries, which were found after he died.   
      
   “I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” Moore   
   wrote in one entry, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Ed Buck   
   is the one to thank, he gave me my first injection.”   
      
   Moore continued: “I pray that I can just get my life together   
   and make sense. I help so many people but can’ t seem to help   
   myself. I honestly don’ t know what to do… I just hope the end   
   result isn’t death.”   
      
   In a written statement, LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey   
   said she remains “deeply concerned for the safety of people   
   whose life circumstances may make them more vulnerable to   
   criminal predators.”   
      
   She added, “With this new evidence, I authorized the filing of   
   criminal charges against Ed Buck.”   
      
   Buck has been connected to numerous prominent Democrats dating   
   back more than a decade, some of whom now say they have returned   
   his donations. He was also involved in the LA political scene,   
   having served on the steering committee of the local Stonewall   
   Democratic Club before he was booted following the second of the   
   two deaths at his home.   
      
   Buck contributed $1,000 to former President Barack Obama’s first   
   campaign for president and $2,700 to former Secretary of State   
   Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential bid, and he   
   also has chipped into the campaigns of several current   
   Democratic members of Congress, including Senator Kyrsten Sinema   
   of Arizona, Representative Ted Lieu of California, and House   
   Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, also of California,   
   among others.   
      
   Lieu announced he was donating money collected earlier from Buck   
   to LGBTQ and African-American groups.   
      
   Earlier this year, in an open letter published in the Los   
   Angeles Blade, DA Lacey denied that a $100 donation Buck made to   
   her 2012 campaign had any influence on her office’s earlier   
   decisions not to prosecute in the deaths of Moore and Dean.   
      
   “Nothing could be further from the truth,” she wrote.   
      
   Should he be convicted, Buck is facing a maximum of five years   
   and eight months in state prison. The case continues to be   
   investigated by the LA County Sheriff’ s Department — with the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)