LOS ANGELES (KNX) — A court sentenced Ed Buck, a formerly well-respected West Hollywood political donor, to 30 years in prison for drug and sex-related offenses that resulted in the overdose deaths of two Black men.
For years, Buck lured unsuspecting, vulnerable gay men to his Laurel Avenue apartment for so-called “party and play” encounters involving sex and drugs. Some victims accused Buck of giving them without their knowledge. Buck would inject victims and sexually assault them while they were unconscious.
In two instances, he injected victims with fatal doses of meth. 26-year-old Gemmel Moore flew to Los Angeles from Texas in June 2017 on a flight that Buck paid for and booked. Moore was found dead that same day. Police found drugs and paraphernalia strewn across Buck’s apartment, but authorities ruled Moore’s death an accident and refused to prosecute.
More than a year later, Timothy Dean, 55, visited Buck in January 2019. Records show that he overdosed within an hour, prompting Buck to clean up blood, vomit, and syringes before dialing 911.
It wasn’t until a third man, Dane Brown, nearly overdosed in September 2019 that Buck was finally held responsible. Buck had injected Brown with three doses of methamphetamine before he managed to escape and call 911. Police arrested Buck a week later.
“Buck does not value human life beyond his own,” assistant U.S. attorney Chelsea Norell wrote, urging the judge to sentence him to life in prison to protect the public. She argued that he would continue feeding his compulsion to inject people until they die if he ever were released.
“He used human beings as playthings, destroying their lives merely to appease his own sexual gratifications,” Norell added. “He has killed two people and nearly a third, torn apart families, created and amplified debilitating addictions among the most vulnerable populations, and has done it all without an ounce of remorse.”
Before sentencing, Buck asked the court to “take a look at [his] life in total,” and not “the horrible caricature the government painted me as — a meth-fueled axe killer.”
Many men testified that Buck had offered them payment in exchange for potentially allowing him to inject them with drugs, often withholding the money if Buck wasn’t satisfied with the amount they had ingested. Prosecutors described his apartment as a lab for “rats in his twisted experiments.”
Buck, who filmed some of his encounters shared during the trial, drugged the men until they were unconscious to assault, choke and beat them sexually. One victim said he was immobile until a rush of adrenaline surged through his body at the sound of Buck revving a chainsaw in front of his motionless body.
A hearing to determine how much money Buck must pay in restitution to his victims and in fines is postponed while his attorneys work to secure accurate records of his assets.
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