Political donor Ed Buck was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison in connection to the fatal overdoses of two men.
Prosecutors accused the 67-year-old megadonor of preying on vulnerable men, and providing them with drugs and money in exchange for sex. Two of the victims, Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean, were found dead in Buck’s West Hollywood home in 2017 and 2019. Investigators later determined the men had died after Buck injected them with fatal doses of methamphetamine.
Buck, a wealthy businessman who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic causes, was eventually arrested in September 2019, after he allegedly injected another individual with back-to-back doses of the methamphetamine. The victim, identified as Dane Brown, reportedly overdosed twice, but survived the ordeal. He detailed his horrific experience during his testimony in Buck’s trial.
In July 2021, Buck was found guilty of nine felony counts, including methamphetamine distribution resulting in death, prostitution, and maintaining a drug-involved premises.
“Buck used his money and privilege to exploit the wealth and power imbalances between himself and his victims, who were unhoused, destitute, and/or struggling with addiction,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Norell said in a court filing. “He spent thousands of dollars on drugs and party and play sessions that destroyed lives and bred insidious addictions [...] Buck’s lack of remorse is aptly captured in one image: As he was hiding out in a hotel, evading arrest for Gemmel Moore’s death, he was injecting Dane Brown, another young Black man, with back-to-back slams of methamphetamine.”
Buck’s lawyer says he plans to appeal the “excessive sentence.”
“The deaths were tragic. His being charged and convicted was tragic. The sentence was tragic,” his attorney, Mark J. Werksman, said after the sentencing, as reported by the New York Times. “None of this should’ve happened.”
