Democratic donor and political activist Ed Buck is expected to face federal charges in connection with a series of drug overdoses in his West Hollywood apartment in recent years, according to Buck’s attorney and multiple law enforcement sources.
Buck, 65, was arrested Tuesday on state charges after an unidentified man survived a methamphetamine overdose in his apartment on Sept. 11. He is accused of injecting the man with the drug at his apartment.
This is the third overdose that has been connected to Buck and his apartment in recent years. Gemmel Moore, 26, died in July 2017 and Timothy Dean, 55, died in January.
The 65-year-old donor faces one felony count each of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house, the district attorney’s office said in a statement earlier this week.
Through attorney Seymour Amster, Buck has repeatedly denied having any role in the deaths, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Amster told reporters after his client’s arraignment Thursday that he was told federal charges are likely to be filed against Buck, but did not know the details.
Buck was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, but Amster asked for a delay until next month.
Multiple law enforcement sources told NBC News that the federal case will be related to narcotics distribution resulting in death, presumably stemming from the deaths of Moore or Dean.
Moore’s family has accused Buck, who is white, of preying upon black gay men. Both deaths were ruled as an accidental overdose of crystal methamphetamine.
In a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in February, LaTisha Nixon, the mother of Moore, claimed that Buck bought a plane ticket for her son to travel from Houston.
When Moore arrived in Los Angeles, he went straight to Buck’s apartment, the lawsuit alleges. Once there, Buck allegedly injected him with crystal methamphetamine. Nixon has said her son never used the drug. Nixon accuses Buck of wrongful death, sexual battery, assault, battery, negligence, civil rights violation, hate violence and drug dealer liability.
Amster rejected the accusations that his client wasn’t charged previously based on the race of Moore and Dean, saying instead that this is the first time prosecutors felt there was evidence to file a case.
“We do not feel that race played any part of this case before it was filed or when it’s been filed, and that is the most important thing here,” Amster said.
