Accused Predator Ed Buck Pleads for Prison Release

Citing ill health, Ed Buck is requesting release from federal prison before his January 2021 trial for distributing drugs that resulted in the deaths of two gay Black men.

Attorneys for Buck, including former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden, say the 65-year-old is at risk for contracting COVID-19 and is suffering from cardiac issues and gum disease, according to Los Angeles's NBC affiliate and Wehoville. Buck's attorneys said he would consent to a $400,000 bond, electronic monitoring, and hand over his passport in exchange for release.

Federal prosecutors see Buck as not only a flight risk but a danger to the community. After Gemmel Moore, a 26-year-old Texas man, was found dead of a methamphetamine overdose in Buck's West Hollywood apartment in July 2017, other men overdosed there, including Timothy Dean, who died in the apartment in January 2019. Other men have claimed Buck injected them with drugs without their consent. Buck, arrested in September 2019, is charged with distributing meth not only to Moore and Dean but to three other men in 2018 and 2019.

Activist Jasmyne Cannick, who led the call for Buck's arrest, said the defendant will go to court on September 25 to argue for his release.

If convicted of all charges, Buck could face at least 20 years in prison.