Ed Buck

Edward Bernard Peter Buck (born Buckmelter; August 24, 1954) is an American businessman, LGBTQ political activist, and Democratic political fundraiser. A former model and actor, he made a significant amount of money running and selling the data service company Gopher Courier. He became involved in politics after the election of Evan Mecham as Governor of Arizona in 1986; Buck, an Arizona native, led the effort to recall him from office due to Mecham's perceived racism and corruption, which ended in Mecham's impeachment by the Arizona Senate in 1988 on the basis of various charges, including misusing government funds, before a recall election could occur. The experience led Buck to change his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, and he has since donated heavily to Democratic politicians. In 2007, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the city council of West Hollywood, California.

Ed Buck
Born
Edward Bernard Peter Buckmelter

(1954-08-24) August 24, 1954
Steubenville, Ohio, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationNorth High School
Alma materPhoenix College
Occupation
  • Businessman
  • Political activist
Political party
Criminal charge(s)
  • Maintaining a drug house (State)
  • Battery causing serious injury (State)
  • Administering methamphetamine (State)
  • Distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death (Federal)
Criminal status
  • Held without bond
  • Awaiting arraignment

Two African-American men have been discovered dead in Buck's West Hollywood home since 2017 due to drug overdoses. Several reports indicated that Buck had a history of bringing African-American men to his house, where he would reportedly inject them with high doses of crystal methamphetamine for sexual gratification.[1] In January 2019, a coalition of 50 civil rights organizations called for law enforcement to investigate the matter. On September 17, 2019, Buck was arrested and charged with three counts of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house.

Early life

Ed Buck was born as Edward Bernard Peter Buckmelter on August 24 or 25, 1954, in Steubenville, Ohio.[2][3] He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was educated at North High School and graduated from Phoenix College.[2][3]

Career

Buck began his career as a fashion model in Europe,[3][4] where he also acted in television commercials and two movies.[2] He worked for a friend's company, Rapid Information Services, before buying it out of bankruptcy for US$250,000 and renaming it Gopher Courier. Buck became a millionaire upon selling it after five years.[3]

Buck led the campaign to impeach Arizona Republican Governor Evan Mecham in 1987 by founding the "Mecham Watchdog Committee".[2][4][5] He announced the campaign on December 21, 1986, before Mecham had even been sworn in,[6] and was the "leader" of a protest on the day of Mecham's inauguration.[7] In particular, Buck highlighted Mecham's "opposition to a King holiday, his proposal for voluntary drug testing and his plan to reduce the state police force by up to 300 officers".[8] Buck distributed bumper stickers that read "Mecham for Ex-Governor", and Arizona Attorney General Robert K. Corbin ruled that state employees were allowed to use them on their cars.[5] The anti-Mecham campaign "made Buck a household name in Arizona" according to The Arizona Republic.[4] In retaliation, Buck was attacked by Julian Sanders, the chairman of Arizonans for Traditional Family Values, over his homosexuality.[9][10] Buck switched his registration from Republican to Democrat because of homophobia in 1988.[3]

After moving to West Hollywood, California, Buck ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2007.[3] He formerly served on the steering committee of the Stonewall Democratic Club.[3][11][12] He has donated more than a total of $500,000 to political candidates and causes, almost all of them linked to the Democratic Party, including contributions to candidates like Hillary Clinton, Ted Lieu, Pete Aguilar, Adam B. Schiff, and Raja Krishnamoorthi as well as the Getting Things Done PAC.[3][13]

Criminal investigations

On July 27, 2017, a young African-American man named Gemmel Moore died in Buck's apartment.[11][12][14] Paramedics found Moore, who had worked as an escort, naked on a mattress in the living room with a "male pornography movie playing on the television", according to a Los Angeles County coroner's report.[14] A spokesman for the coroner's office, Ed Winter, said Buck was inside his Laurel Avenue home at the time of Moore's death and that drug paraphernalia was recovered from the scene.[15] Police found sex toys, syringes, and "clear plastic bags with suspected methamphetamine in a tool box roll-cabinet in the living room", 24 syringes with brown residue, five glass pipes with white residue and burn marks, a plastic straw with possible white residue, clear plastic bags with white powdery residue, and a clear plastic bag with a "piece of crystal-like substance".[14] The death was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to charge Buck on July 26, 2018.[16] Jasmyne Cannick, a local writer, activist, and political candidate who investigated Moore's death, criticized Lacey's decision, writing on Twitter that any further deaths at Ed's residence would be Lacey's responsibility.[17]

Since the death of Gemmel Moore, multiple reports have indicated that Buck had a history of luring young, black gay men to his apartment, where he would inject them with crystal methamphetamine for sexual gratification.[17]

On January 7, 2019, another African-American man, 55-year-old Timothy Michael Dean (a part-time adult film actor known professionally as Hole Hunter[18][19]), died at Buck's home.[20] Following Dean's death, a coalition of 50 civil rights organizations released a statement calling on local law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation of Buck's role in the incident and calling on elected officials to return all contributions received from Buck.[21]

Buck was arrested on September 17, 2019, and charged with three counts of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. He is accused of having injected a 37-year-old man, who overdosed but survived, with methamphetamine on September 11.[22]

On September 19, 2019, a federal charge of "one count of distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death" was added by the United States for the death of Gemmel Moore who died on July 27, 2017. That death had originally been ruled an accidental methamphetamine overdose by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.[23][24]

On August 4, 2020, a federal grand jury charged Buck with four additional felonies, bringing the total number of federal charges to nine counts. Buck was scheduled to go to trial on January 19, 2021,[25] but the date was postponed to April 20, 2021 due to COVID-19-related considerations.[26]

Personal life

Buck came out to his parents as gay at the age of 16.[3] He changed his surname from Buckmelter to Buck in 1981[2] or 1983.[3] He was the Grand Marshal of the 1989 International Gay Rodeo.[3][4] Buck formerly lived near Piestewa Peak in Phoenix, Arizona.[4] He has lived in West Hollywood, California, since 1991.[3]

References
  1. Barron, Jesse (2020-09-16). "What Happened Inside Ed Buck's Apartment?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  2. "Recall drive. Bucking the system: unlikely figure leads challenge to Mecham". Arizona Republic. June 28, 1987. p. 10. Retrieved November 21, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Who Is Ed Buck?". WEHOVille. August 16, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017. But it has attracted a lot of attention from the right-wing media here and abroad, including publications such as the Drudge Report; TruNews, a Christian news site; Political VelCraft, a right-wing conspiracy site, and Voat.com, a website that promotes conspiracy theories such as PizzaGate.
  4. Van Der Werf, Martin (November 29, 1987). "Buck mirror image of Mecham, critics say". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. pp. 9–10. Retrieved November 21, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Stanton, Sam (February 13, 1987). "Recall-Mecham stickers OK'd for state workers' cars". The Arizona Republic. p. 16. Retrieved November 25, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Stanton, Sam (December 21, 1986). "Recall bid on Mecham a bit early". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved November 25, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Mecham begins term as 17th governor of Arizona with call for 'new beginning'". Arizona Daily Star. January 6, 1987. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved November 25, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Harris, Don; Stanton, Sam (January 6, 1987). "Special budget session to be called by Mecham". The Arizona Republic. pp. 1, 6. Retrieved November 25, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Carson, Susan R. (March 15, 1987). "Opponent of Mecham lambasted". Arizona Daily Star. Tucson, Arizona. pp. 11, 12. Retrieved November 21, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Phoenix man seeks to recall Mecham". Arizona Daily Star. December 22, 1986. p. 32. Retrieved November 25, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Cullen, Terence (August 22, 2017). "Los Angeles investigators probing death of male escort at home of prominent Democratic donor". The New York Daily News. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  12. "Investigation Underway Into Fatal Drug Overdose At Democratic Donor's WeHo Home". CBS Los Angeles. August 15, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  13. Branson-Potts, Hailey (October 17, 2019). "Ed Buck was known for his abrasive behavior. But politicians still took his money". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  14. Branson-Potts, Hailey; Winton, Richard (November 18, 2017). "Democratic donor's home was littered with drug paraphernalia after man died, coroner says". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 21, 2017. Moore, who was black, had been homeless and had worked as an escort.
  15. Branson-Potts, Richard Winton, Alene Tchekmedyian, Hailey. "Homicide detectives probe man's overdose death at the home of prominent L.A. Democratic donor Ed Buck". latimes.com.
  16. "LA County DA Declines to Charge Ed Buck in Death of Gemmel Moore". WEHOville. July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  17. "'Serial predator': L.A. writer has been sounding alarm on Ed Buck for over a year". NBC News. January 11, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  18. Man Who Died in Buck's Home ID'd: Retail Worker, Adult Film Actor
  19. The Story Behind the Man Found Dead in Ed Buck's Laurel Avenue Apartment - WEHOville
  20. "Death Reported at West Hollywood Home of Wealthy Political Donor Ed Buck — For the 2nd Time". KTLA. January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  21. Branson-Potts, Hailey (11 January 2019). "Ed Buck's attorney says critics have unfairly used race to blame his client for two deaths in his home". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  22. Flynn, Meagan (September 18, 2019). "Democratic donor arrested after third man overdoses at his West Hollywood home". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  23. Chan, Stella; Mossberg, Cheri; Simon, Darran (September 19, 2019). "Democratic donor Ed Buck faces federal charge for allegedly providing lethal dose of meth". CNN. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  24. Queally, James; Winton, Richard (September 19, 2019). "Democratic donor Ed Buck paid at least 10 men to use drugs for his own pleasure, prosecutors say". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  25. "Grand Jury Charges Ed Buck with Four Additional Felonies, Including that He Enticed Victims to Travel Interstate to Engage in Prostitution". United States Department of Justice. August 4, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  26. "Ed Buck's Trial Has Been Postponed Again, and Further Delay Could Follow". Los Angeles Magazine. January 16, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
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