Wealthy Democratic donor Ed Buck was 'obsessed with party and play' and would 'pay men to come to his home to use drugs and have sex to satisfy his fetish', trial hears
A wealthy Democratic paid men 'to come to his home to use drugs and engage in sex play to satisfy a fetish,' prosecutors said.
Ed Buck, 66, who paid $500,000 to mostly Democratic politicians, is currently on trial for charges of providing fatal doses to two men, running a drug den and persuading others to travel for prostitution.
The businessman and animal activist, who once mingled with elite Democrats such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Gavin Newsom, now faces nine felonies that could put him in prison for life if convicted.
Ed Buck, 66, (pictured) is currently on trial for charges of providing fatal doses to two men, running a drug den and persuading others to travel for prostitution
During Tuesday's opening statements, Buck's nine-count indictment outlined experiences of his drug den where two men died, and several others were injured
The businessman and animal activist, (pictured in 2010) who once mingled with elite Democrats such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Gavin Newsom, now faces nine felonies that could put him in prison for life if convicted
During Tuesday's opening statements, Buck's nine-count indictment outlined experiences of his drug den where two men died, and several others were injured.
Prosecutors claim Buck provided fatal doses of methamphetamine to Gemmel Moore, 26, and Timothy Dean, 55.
However, the defense argues all the men at Buck's apartment were there under their own will, and Moore and Dean did not die from methamphetamine.
Although Buck said through his lawyers the activity was consensual, the U.S. Attorney's Office plans to have witnesses recount horror stories of barely escaping alive.
Buck's arrest marked a turning point for activists who rallied outside his West Hollywood apartment and pressured law enforcement to act after Moore, died on his floor in 2017.
Dean, 55, died 18 months later, and Buck was arrested in September 2019 after one man overdosed twice in one week.
Prosecutors claim Buck provided fatal doses of methamphetamine to Gemmel Moore, 26, (right) and Timothy Dean, 55 (left)
However, the defense argues all the men at Buck's apartment (pictured) were there under their own will, and Moore and Dean did not die from methamphetamine.
Buck, a wealthy white man who was active in gay and animal rights issues, exploited vulnerable men - most of them black - paying them to come to his home, use drugs, then engage in sex play to satisfy a fetish, prosecutors said.
Carlos Sinclair was among those individuals.
According to testimony, Sinclair was plucked out of a homeless encampment in 2018 to play sexual fetish drug games in Buck's West Hollywood apartment, The Washington Examiner reports.
Sinclair was pressured to inject methamphetamine, along with the date-rape drug GHP against his will.
At one point, Sinclair passed out after smoking the drugs and discovered Buck had injected him while he was asleep, according to journalist Jasmyne Cannick.
'When I woke up, Ed Buck was sitting on me and facing me, injecting me with crystal meth,' Cannick recounted Sinclair testifying. '[Buck] said, 'Don't move because there is a needle in your arm.' Carlos said he felt violated.'
'Buck´s preference was to personally inject victims, and he pressured or incentivized victims to let him do so, sometimes offering large cash bonuses to coerce a victim to agree to an injection or additional injections,' prosecutors said in court papers.
Dean's sister, Joyce Jackson, (left), speaks outside the Los Angeles federal courthouse where Ed Buck went on trial Tuesday for the fatal methamphetamine overdoses of her brother.
'Other times, Buck simply injected victims while they were unconscious.'
One man, who said he was paid $300 as an escort, said Buck gave him what he said was meth, but it immobilized him on the floor for more than six hours.
Buck told the man to leave, but the man explained he couldn´t move. When Buck approached him with a buzzing power saw, the man said a surge of adrenalin drove him get to his feet and escape.
Neighbors are expected to testify to a constant flow of men coming and going from Buck's apartment that only ebbed after the deaths before eventually picking back up.
One neighbor said Buck told him he was a social worker helping the men.
Several men are expected to testify about Buck´s 'compulsion to pump drugs into others regardless of the consequences,' prosecutors said.
Some told investigators they believe Buck gave them the powerful doses of GHP, which left them unconscious.
That alleged victim, Dane Brown, told investigators he had been living in a hotel on Skid Row when he met Buck on Adam4Adam, a gay dating and escort site.
He moved in with Buck for part of the summer of 2019 and said Buck injected him with meth nearly daily for five weeks, according to court documents.
The second time Brown overdosed, he asked Buck to call an ambulance. When Buck refused, Brown left the apartment and called 911 from a nearby gas station and revived at a hospital.
Prosecutors said Brown was lucky to survive. He is expected to testify at trial, providing a first-hand account that neither Moore nor Dean lived to tell.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has filed two drug counts and a charge of battery but no death charge, The Washington Examiner reports.
The case has a September 23 court date.
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