LA political donor gets 30 years in prison for fetish deaths
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Even after two men were found dead in his California apartment, Ed Buck did not stop injecting gay men with walloping doses of methamphetamine.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced him to 30 years in prison in the deaths of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean. Another man, Dane Brown, was repeatedly injected by Buck but survived and his harrowing account of being revived twice finally led to Buck’s arrest in 2019.
Buck, 67, a big dollar donor to Democratic, LGBTQ and animal rights causes, appeared in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for providing fatal doses of drugs, operating a drug den and enticing men to travel for prostitution. He was convicted last summer.
Judge Christina A. Snyder said the sentencing decision was difficult because she had to balance the good Buck did in his life with the “horrific crimes” that she called “more than just an accident.”
Prosecutors asked for a life sentence, saying that they couldn't take the risk that Buck might be released and that he has shown he is capable of re-offending.
But Buck's defense attorneys sought a decade behind bars — below the federal sentencing guidelines — saying he was sexually abused as a child and health problems led to his drug addiction.
Federal prosecutors said Buck's unrelenting fervor to satisfy a fetish by preying on vulnerable men, often young and Black, is reason enough to keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. Buck's attorneys said any sentence of more than 25 years would essentially mean a life sentence because he is 67.
Buck told the judge on Thursday that he had loved the men and said he wished he could have turned back time but insisted he was not responsible.
“Their deaths were tragic but I did not cause their deaths,” Buck said.
“Buck used his money and privilege to...