Edward Buck, a white former Democratic donor living in West Hollywood, California, has been charged with four additional felonies for his alleged role in the overdosing deaths of a Black, 26-year-old sex worker named Gemmel Moore and at least one other man.
Buck was arrested in September 2019 for allegedly providing methamphetamine injections to Moore, who overdosed on the drug and died in Buck's apartment on July 27, 2017. Buck was also suspected of involvement in the similar death of 55-year-old Black man Timothy Dean on January 7, 2019.
The four newly charged felonies against Buck include two for encouraging Moore and another man to travel interstate to engage in sex work—something that is illegal in California—one charge of knowingly and intentionally distributing methamphetamine and one charge of using his residence for the purpose of distributing narcotics.
Buck now faces a total of nine charges related to Moore and Dean's deaths. In October 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Buck on five felony charges involving their deaths. The five charges in that indictment included three counts of distributing methamphetamine and two counts of distributing methamphetamine resulting in death.
The October 2019 indictment alleged that Buck used gay hook-up apps, social media and a recruiter to find "vulnerable individuals who were destitute, homeless, and/or struggled with drug addiction" and invite them to his apartment to consume drugs and perform sexual acts, a practice known as "party and play."
The indictment alleged that Buck prepared syringes of meth—a stimulant that floods the body with physically pleasurable waves of dopamine while increasing heart rate and impairing the brain's decision-making abilities—and injected victims with or without their consent, sometimes injecting more than they'd expected or injecting them while they lay unconscious.
Local Black social justice activists pressured city and state prosecutors to arrest and charge Buck with a crime.
"No other Black men should have to die before the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney take action," wrote the racial justice group Color of Change in a petition accusing Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum of refusing to prosecute Buck because he is white.
Lawyers for LaTisha Nixon, the mother of Moore, had harsh words for law enforcement. "If the dead body of a blond-haired, blue-eyed white man was found in the home of an older black man, he'd be lucky to even make it to the police station alive."
If convicted on any of the charges, Buck will face a minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life without parole. He is currently being held in federal custody without bond. He is scheduled to go to trial in this matter on January 19, 2021.
Uncommon Knowledge
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