crime

Second Man Found Dead in the House of Prominent Democratic Donor

Ed Buck.
Ed Buck. Photo: Ed Buck/Facebook

On January 7, a black man named Timothy Dean was found dead in the West Hollywood home of Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor who came under investigation a year and a half ago when another black man, Gemmel Moore, died in his apartment. In the immediate aftermath of the second death, Los Angeles activists organized protests, demanding justice for the two men in front of Buck’s house; they believe that law enforcement failed to fully investigate Buck in 2017 because of his close ties to elected officials, as well as differences in race and class. And, on March 25, the Los Angeles Police Department revealed information that made Buck appear to be all the more suspicious: that Dean’s cause of death was the same as Moore’s in 2017: accidental meth overdose.

Below, here’s everything we know so far.

What do we know happened?

According to the Los Angeles Times, Timothy Dean, 55, died in Buck’s apartment on Laurel Avenue sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. Paramedics attempted CPR on him, but he was declared dead on the scene. Per Buck’s attorney Seymour Amster, Dean was a fashion consultant and had been a friend of the Democratic donor for 25 years.

While Amster has claimed that Dean “ingested some type of substance” before arriving at Buck’s apartment, Dean’s roommate, Ottavio Taddei, told the New York Times that while Dean “enjoyed a couple of drinks every now and then,” he was skeptical of Amter’s allegation.

“I’ve personally never seen him using drugs and never seen him in the apparent state of alteration caused by any form of drug,” Taddei said. “I consider this whole tragedy extremely controversial and I do hope the police department will dig into it.”

On March 25, the LAPD confirmed Dean’s office cause of death: accidental methamphetamine overdose, which the New York Times reports is the same way that Moore died.

Who is Ed Buck?

Buck, 65, is a major political donor who gave $23,600 to various California races and causes through June 2018, per campaign-finance records. Most famously, he led a campaign to impeach Arizona Republican governor Evan Mecham in 1987. And, as of March 26, no charges have been filed against him.

What happened with the case involving Gemmel Moore?

In July 2017, Gemmel Moore, a 26-year-old black man who worked as an escort, was found dead in Buck’s apartment from an accidental methamphetamine overdose, per a coroner’s report. At the time, Amster argued that Buck had nothing to do with the death, even though his apartment was reportedly covered in drug paraphernalia.

“This was a tragedy, but it’s no excuse to accuse an innocent man of acts he did not do,” Amster said.

But a notebook found in Moore’s possessions suggests otherwise. According to the Times, which reviewed the journal, Moore wrote about using crystal methamphetamine, saying that “Ed Buck is the one to thank.”

“He gave me my first injection of chrystal [sic] meth,” the entry read. While the death was deemed an accident, following news of the second man’s death, law enforcement officials said on January 7 that they plan on conducting another review of Moore’s case.

Activists in the area say Buck has a history of preying on young black man and pressuring them into partaking in dangerous drug use. Jasmyne Cannick, a progressive Democrat who’s running for delegate in the 53rd Assembly District and has worked with Moore’s family, told the Cut in an email, “For two years, I have worked to bring forth witness after witness who told authorities about Ed Buck and how he uses the internet to stalk and prey on young, Black gay men who are usually homeless, HIV-positive and often work as male escorts.” (The Cut reached out for comment from Amster, who has repeatedly denied these claims on Buck’s behalf; as of publication, he has not responded.)

Cannick places the blame on local law enforcement and government for what she sees as intentional inaction. “The death of another young Black man in the West Hollywood home of prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck is on the hands of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney Jackie Lacey,” she said. “Had Buck been arrested and prosecuted in the death of Gemmel Moore, chances are he would not have been around to solicit and prey on vulnerable young Black gay men.”

On February 28, Moore’s mother filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Buck, claiming that he had a “had a predatory and injurious system of soliciting Black men and watching them cling to life.”

How has the public responded?

On the evening of January 7, more than 100 people gathered outside of Buck’s West Hollywood to demand justice for Moore and the second man, as well as Buck’s arrest. There, Cannick proclaimed that the district attorney’s office and sheriff’s office “have blood on their hands” for failing to hold Buck accountable.

“This was preventable,” she said. “We knew he hadn’t stopped, that it was only a matter of time before this happened again. And now it’s only a matter of time before it happens a third time if he’s not stopped.”

Second Man Found Dead in the House of Democratic Donor