Democratic megadonor Ed Buck was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury for allegedly providing methamphetamine to two men who died from overdoses at his Los Angeles apartment.
The five-count indictment charged Buck with distributing methamphetamine to Gemmel Moore, 26, in July 2017 and Timothy Dean, 55, in January of 2019. Buck was charged last month in the death of Moore, a charge also included in Wednesday’s indictment.
The grand jury also indicted Buck, 65, on three other counts of methamphetamine distribution, alleging he engaged in “party and play,” the practice of using drugs during sexual activity.
“In these party and play sessions, Buck distributed drugs, including methamphetamine, to his victims, and in some instances, injected them with drugs intravenously in a practice known as ‘slamming.’ Buck exerted power over his victims, often targeting vulnerable individuals who were destitute, homeless, and/or struggled with drug addiction, in order to exploit the relative wealth and power imbalance between them,” the indictment said.
Buck is accused of personally injecting his victims with drugs, sometimes without their consent, and pressuring them to take drugs by offering a “premium payment.” If his victims refused to take drugs with him, he “refused to pay or reduced pay to victims,” the indictment alleges.
Buck also allegedly injected his victims with more drugs than they consented to take and injected them with drugs while they were unconscious.
“On at least two occasions described in this indictment, Buck distributed lethal quantities of methamphetamine to his victims, resulting in death,” the grand jury wrote in the indictment.
Buck was arrested in September after a third man overdosed in the Democratic donor’s home. That man survived the overdose.
State prosecutors charged Buck in the third man’s overdose. Those charges also include battery, administering methamphetamine, and operating a drug house.
In a federal criminal complaint, Buck is accused of exchanging money and drugs for sexual favors. Prosecutors alleged Buck has taken advantage of at least 11 men in the last two years.
Most of the victims, including Moore and Dean, were black.
Buck, who is being held without bail, has supported President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and has donated more than half a million dollars to different Democratic candidates and causes.
