XPost: la.general, alt.politics.media, rec.arts.tv.comedy.colbert-report   
   XPost: dc.politics   
   From: ed.buck.democrat.pervert@disney.com   
      
   https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/09/17/8321528-6573905-image-   
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   A federal judge approved an April trial date for West Hollywood   
   resident Ed Buck, who is accused of giving drugs to a man who   
   died at his Laurel Avenue apartment after allegedly being lured   
   across state lines for prostitution.   
      
   Buck, 66, is facing nine felony counts in Los Angeles federal   
   court. He also faces state charges of running a drug den, but   
   the federal case will proceed first, on April 19. During a Zoom   
   hearing Wednesday, a final status conference was scheduled by   
   U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder for April 12.   
      
   Buck was arrested in September 2019 after being charged in   
   federal court with providing methamphetamine to a man who died   
   after receiving the drug intravenously. He now faces additional   
   charges, including a count alleging that he enticed 26-year-old   
   Gemmel Moore to travel to the Los Angeles area to engage in   
   prostitution. Buck allegedly provided meth to Moore, who   
   overdosed on the drug and died on July 27, 2017.   
      
   Buck is charged with a second count of enticing a man to travel   
   with the intent of engaging in prostitution. He is also accused   
   of knowingly and intentionally distributing meth, and using his   
   apartment for the purpose of distributing narcotics such as   
   meth, and the sedatives gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and   
   clonazepam.   
      
   Federal prosecutors allege that Buck “engaged in a pattern of   
   soliciting men to consume drugs that Buck provided and perform   
   sexual acts at Buck’s apartment,” a practice described as “party   
   and play,” according to court papers.   
      
   Buck allegedly solicited victims on social media platforms,   
   including a gay dating website, and used a recruiter to scout   
   and proposition men. Once the men were at his apartment, Buck   
   allegedly prepared syringes containing meth, sometimes   
   personally injecting the victims with or without their consent,   
   according to the indictment.   
      
   Buck also allegedly injected victims with more narcotics than   
   they expected and sometimes injected victims while they were   
   unconscious. Another victim, Timothy Dean, also suffered a fatal   
   overdose in Buck’s apartment, on Jan. 7, 2019, according to the   
   indictment.   
      
   Each of the charges alleging the distribution of narcotics   
   resulting in death carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years in   
   federal prison and possible maximum of life without parole.   
      
   In state court, Buck faces charges, including operating a drug   
   house, that were filed two years ago by the Los Angeles County   
   District Attorney’s Office.   
      
   Buck has repeatedly attempted to persuade a federal judge to   
   grant him bail, most recently in September when his attorneys   
   argued that their client should be released from the downtown   
   federal lockup due to the COVID-19 pandemic currently moving   
   through jails and prisons. Buck had offered to post a $400,000   
   signature bond and submit to electronic monitoring and home   
   confinement.   
      
   However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella A. Oliver found that the   
   proposed bond conditions were insufficient to ensure Buck’s   
   presence at trial, given the incentives to flee. She also   
   determined that Buck would pose a danger to the community if   
   allowed to leave jail before his trial, now expected in April.   
      
   As for the threat of COVID-19, the judge said defense attorneys   
   did not show that the Metropolitan Detention Center was unable   
   to handle Buck’s medical needs, and that he didn’t have any   
   medical conditions that put him at elevated risk for the virus,   
   beyond his age.   
      
   Federal prosecutors allege Buck has a history of injecting men   
   with drugs and paying them for sexual activity and emphasized in   
   a court filing that a judge’s ruling denying pretrial release on   
   grounds of danger to the community was correct.   
      
   Even if a judge did release him on bail to home confinement, it   
   is unknown where Buck would go. His landlord at 1234 Laurel Ave.   
   had him evicted and his belongings were put in storage and/or   
   given away. His apartment was then rented to someone else.   
      
   Ed Buck was active in Democratic politics in the state, donating   
   large sums to many campaigns. He also donated to the political   
   campaigns of several West Hollywood City Council members. In   
   2007, Buck even ran for WeHo City Council, using his apartment   
   as his campaign headquarters.   
      
      
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