LOS ANGELES _ Democratic donor Ed Buck will face federal criminal charges in connection with allegations that he lured several men to his West Hollywood home and injected them with drugs in recent years, leading to two deaths, a law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times.
Buck, who was arrested Tuesday night in connection with state-level charges tied to the same allegations, will be formally charged by the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter candidly.
It was not immediately clear what specific charges Buck would face. A call to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office seeking comment was not immediately returned.
A debate over whether to charge Buck locally or federally had brewed in recent days, the source said.
Buck is accused of operating a drug house, with prosecutors alleging he lured in vulnerable men with money and shelter, then injected them with methamphetamine for sexual gratification. He has been the subject of scrutiny since July 2017, when 27-year-old Gemmel Moore died in his home. The case was initially ruled to be an accident and Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said they found nothing suspicious. The case was reopened the next month when Moore's mother and friends questioned whether the drugs that killed him were self-administered.
Last year, homicide investigators asked prosecutors to consider four charges in Moore's death: murder, voluntary manslaughter, and furnishing and possessing drugs. L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to file a case, citing insufficient evidence.
When a second man _ Timothy Dean, 55 _ died of an overdose in January, the Sheriff's Department said it would take another look at the first case.
Buck was arrested Tuesday after a 37-year-old man survived an overdose in his apartment and called 911. In court papers, prosecutors said that Buck is still a suspect in the two overdose deaths.
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