Democratic donor Ed Buck arrested in L.A., charged with running a drug house

Police in Los Angeles arrested Ed Buck, a longtime Democratic donor in West Hollywood, on Tuesday and charged him with running a drug house. Los Angeles County prosecutors asked that bail be set at $4 million because Buck is, they alleged, a "violent, dangerous sexual predator" with "no regard for human life" who offered drugs, money, and shelter to vulnerable men in exchange for helping to gratify Buck's sexual fetishes, one of which was injecting people with dangerous doses of methamphetamines and other drugs.

Two black men have died from drug overdoses at Buck's apartment, one in January and another in July 2017, and Buck injected a third man with two dangerous doses last week, though that man survived the overdose after fleeing the apartment and calling 911 from a gas station, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office alleged Tuesday. "His deadly behavior has not stopped," the prosecutors said in their motion, and Buck's "predatory acts and willful disregard for human life must be stopped before another life is lost."

Buck's lawyer declined to comment on the charges, though he has said his client did nothing wrong in past cases. He has not been held legally responsible for the fatal overdoses. Buck, 65, is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.

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