law enforcement

Ed Buck Accuser Says Arrest Could Have Happened Sooner

Ed Buck was initially arrested a week ago. The charges included battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine, and maintaining a drug house.

One of the men with whom political activist and donor Ed Buck allegedly used methamphetamine says he believes police had enough information to make an arrest months ago, and the family of a man who died in Buck's apartment said it wished authorities had acted more quickly to protect the community.

"I told them everything that happened to me, like not hearsay," said Cody, one of nine men listed in a federal criminal complaint as additional accusers of Buck's alleged illegal drug use.

Cody, who asked that his full name be withheld, told NBC4 that he hoped the account he provided to LA County Sheriff's detectives in April would have pushed law enforcement to act immediately, to protect others.

"I did it because those could have been my friends. It could have been me," Cody said. "It was the right thing to do."

Cody said he was upset when LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said that witnesses who spoke to investigators before last week had only provided hearsay or secondhand accounts of incidents with Buck.

"The people who came forward didn't necessarily have firsthand information," Lacey told reporters. "In our justice system we need witnesses who can come forward be cross examined."

Cody said he clearly had a firsthand account of two visits to Buck's apartment, had agreed to cooperate and testify if needed, and had provided documentation that validated his story.

"I showed them receipts, I showed them payments [from Buck], I showed them messages, I let them hear voice mails," he said.

Lacey's office did not immediately respond to Cody's statements.

Buck, 65, was initially arrested by Sheriff's deputies on a state felony case a week ago. The charges included battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine, and maintaining a drug house.

Buck was initially held in lieu of $4-million bail but was quickly turned-over to federal agents, who filed a criminal complaint last Wednesday charging Buck with distributing methamphetamine that led to a death, a single count that could carry a life sentence.

That federal charge stems from the death of Gemmel Moore in July 2017, who died of a drug overdose in Buck's West Hollywood apartment. The court filing also lists incidents with Cody and the other men, including a description of the death of Timothy Dean, who overdosed inside Buck's apartment in January, 2019.

Dean's family issued a statement critical of Lacey and the Sheriff's Department that said: "They failed our brother and Gemmel Moore in every possible way. The evidence was there long ago, before now."

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