Democratic donor convicted of offering drugs for sex; 2 died

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By STEFANIE DAZIO

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal jury on Tuesday convicted a wealthy California political donor on charges he injected gay men with methamphetamine in exchange for sex, leading to two deaths and other overdoses.

Ed Buck was found guilty of all nine felony counts in federal court, which could lead to a life sentence. The verdict came exactly four years after one of the victims was found dead of an overdose in Buck’s West Hollywood apartment.

The jury deliberated for more than four hours after a two-week trial. Buck’s defense attorneys — one of whom was a prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson case — did not immediately return a request for comment.

Prosecutors said Buck paid men and provided drugs in return for sex acts. The 66-year-old had pleaded not guilty. His defense lawyers said neither fatal overdose victim died from meth and that many of the alleged victims were drug addicts.



FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2019, file photo, Ed Buck appears in Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles. A federal jury has convicted the wealthy donor to Democrats on charges he injected gay men with methamphetamine in drugs-for-sex fetish that led to two deaths and other overdoses. Buck was found guilty of all nine felony counts in federal court that could lead to a life sentence. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-8c6328f5fa689fed71251ce421aa5021

[MarineCombatEngineer]

1. See magats and repukes,

we hold our own accountable, something you might want to learn.

[RayStar]

2. Good

Glad he was found guilty.

[bahboo]

3. fucking pure scum....

[stillcool]

4. that is quite the headline....

$500,000 to "mostly" democratic politicians over a 20 year period. Article is kind of choppy. Is the story about Democratic donations, or is it about the sick man who used, abused, tortured and killed men for his own pleasure?

Buck is a wealthy white man who was active in gay causes and animal rights issues. He has given more than $500,000 to mostly Democratic politicians and causes since 2000.

[TheRealNorth]

5. It seems to me....

That the AP has a bit of a bias. They are not Fox News, but they never pass up the chance to smear the left.

[C Moon]

6. IKR? Why is that part of the headline? Click bait, that's why.

[Hekate]

7. The Los Angeles Times has been following the story all along, it being local and all....

Buck is a horror-show. But, Buck covered his ass for a long time in several ways.

One, he lived in a gay community — so let’s not criticize his pursuit of young men or look too deeply at what he’s doing to them, because that would be bigoted. I mean, everybody’s entitled to a kink or two, amirite? And as Democrats and people of a progressive persuasion, we would want to avoid the appearance of bigotry.

Two, he made influential friends in Democratic politics by being very financially generous to them, and being financially generous to causes dear to the hearts of progressives, like gay issues and animal rights. I mean, a man who wants to rescue puppies and kittens can’t be a bad person.

The story, whether you like the headline or not, is about all these things. He bought politically influential friends who chose not to inquire too closely into his private life. The cops were brought in when a young man OD’d and died in his home, but if I recall correctly, the results were inconclusive. I don’t recall reading whether his “friends” decided they didn’t want to know him anymore, or not. But he continued and if anything became worse. Until there was another OD and another death and it all unravelled.

Buck is a horror-show. And Democrats can learn to choose their friends more wisely without being homophobic or racist or whatever.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

8. Yes, I recall reading of this a year or two ago...

... probably at the LA Times web site. From what I read at the time, I assumed it was a foregone conclusion that he was going to be convicted on at least one of the counts.

So once I got past the headline it was, "old news", being rehashed along with the convictions. And what he did were terrible things to do.

[tulipsandroses]

11. I completely disagree on not looking at him luring young men

He’s a predator. He’s not the only one. All illicit substances “rewire” the brain. Meth is highly addictive, flooding the brain with more dopamine than other drugs. It is very much joined with decreased inhibition and compulsory hypersexuality. Calling out the abuse by men like Buck is not discriminating. I would argue that to not call it out is.
There is an ugly underbelly that exists in the gay community that involves men like Buck that go after vulnerable young men and use Meth to “turn them out”. Several articles have been published recently on this topic. They also call out the meth crisis devastating the black gay community. Not getting the same attention as the opioid crisis.

Meth does the same thing to women as far as hyper sexuality, so it’s not just men. There is definitely a lot of exploitation around it, which is different from other drugs. People can completely lose inhibition and do things they would not normally do. Guys like Buck know this, they use Meth and other” sex drugs” like GHB and “poppers”. to make someone disinhibited.
I find myself wondering if people would be talking about this more if this was being done to women?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/patrickstrudwick/black-latino-queer-people-trauma-meth-sex

[betsuni]

9. "Horrifying Details Revealed in Trial of Ed Buck, Former Democratic Donor Implicated in Deaths

of Black Men" was the headline on Jezebel.com.

Thought it was the usual we-hate-Democrats-because-we're-so-progressive Jezebel thing, but I guess not. Stupid.

[moose65]

15. Yep. Total click bait

This guy was small potatoes when it comes to political donations. $500,000 over a 20 year period? That's an average of $25,000 per year. Many Republican donors give that much before they have breakfast, yet they aren't labeled as "Republican donors."

[ColinC]

10. large donors are oftentimes not good people

which is why democratizing our campaign system is so important.

[betsuni]

12. Demonizing Democratic donors. LOL.

This s a forum for Democrats. Hello somebody. Nobody here believes conspiracy theories about Democrats being corrupt. Silly.

[luckone]

13. I read the families had a hard time getting him arrested . The Root has been following this case

As we previously reported, Los Angeles County coroner’s officials initially ruled Moore’s death an accident, and sheriff’s deputies said they saw nothing suspicious about a young Black man found dead in the home of a rich white man. In fact, sheriff’s detectives didn’t launch a new investigation into Moore’s death until his family publicly questioned whether the drugs he took were self-administered and protests were organized.

Dane Brown—the man who survived a near-fatal overdose and escaped Buck’s drug den of abuse, exploitation and racism (some of Buck’s victims testified that he often called them racial slurs, which should surprise absolutely no one)—told reporters outside the courthouse, “I didn’t think I was going to be believed,” according to the Times.

“I’m so relieved that these families can get the justice that they deserve because they’re the ones who suffered pain more than I did,” he continued. “I made it out alive, but they’re suffering because they had to lose someone.”

https://www.theroot.com/ed-buck-convicted-on-all-charges-of-9-count-indictment-1847377330
Many victims spoke out . The second body of Dean was found after entering the home

[Hekate]

14. LA Times 7-28-21 page 1 "Ed Buck guilty of two meth deaths" For those complaining of biased coverage

…I generally recommend the Los Angeles Times as being a better source. That’s not directed at you Steve, but several posters were concerned.

Ed Buck, a longtime fixture of West Hollywood politics, was convicted Tuesday of charges that he supplied the methamphetamine that killed two men during “party and play” encounters at his apartment.

In a gruesome case of an older white man using his power and money to exploit the poverty and drug addiction of younger Black men, the jury found Buck guilty of every charge in a nine-count indictment. Among them were maintaining a drug den, distribution of methamphetamine and enticement to cross state lines to engage in prostitution.

Buck, 66, could spend the rest of his life in prison. His two convictions for supplying the meth that resulted in death each carry a minimum sentence of 20 years.

The verdict concluded a two-week trial that featured harrowing testimony by men hired by Buck to show off their bodies in underwear and get high on crystal meth and the party drug GHB. Excerpts from Buck’s hundreds of graphic videos and photos of the drugs-and-sex sessions left spectators wincing at the trial.

Buck’s obsessive pursuit of his dangerous fetish led to the overdose deaths of two Black men in his apartment: Gemmel Moore, 26, in July 2017, and Timothy Dean, 55, in January 2019.

It was only in September 2019, after a third Black man nearly died of an overdose, that Buck was arrested — a delay that fueled angry protests by activists who accused law enforcement officials of failing to aggressively investigate a politically influential white man. Buck, a onetime candidate for West Hollywood’s City Council, made more than $500,000 in campaign donations over the last couple of decades, nearly all of it to Democrats.

And more
https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/latimes/default.aspx?token=42e23962a5d74614be16bae3d62d13e7&utm_id=34073&sfmc_id=2420481&edid=7832b241-894c-48a1-9628-20f21ef83875

[Omaha Steve]

16. No problem