Federal jury found Ed Buck 66 of nine felonies, including giving fatal doses of methamphetamine to two men who died at his apartment. The jury found Buck guilty of two counts of distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death, four counts of distribution of methamphetamine, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, and two counts of enticement to travel in interstate commerce for prostitution.

          The trial evidence showed that from about 2011 through September 2019, Buck engaged in a pattern of “party and play,” or soliciting men to consume narcotics that he provided and perform sexual activities at his apartment. In these party-and-play sessions, Buck distributed drugs, including methamphetamine, and, sometimes, injected victims with drugs intravenously in a practice known as “slamming.”

          Buck solicited his victims using social media platforms, dating and escort websites, or via referrals from his prior victims, including men he hired to do other work for him, offering a finder's fee for referrals. Buck exerted power and control over his victims, typically targeting individuals who were destitute, homeless or struggling with drug addiction. He offering his victims money to use drugs and to let Buck inject them with narcotics. Once the men were at his apartment, Buck prepared syringes containing methamphetamine, sometimes personally injecting the victims with or without their consent. Buck also injected victims with more narcotics than they expected and sometimes injected victims while they were unconscious. If a victim was not interested in using drugs, or used less than Buck wanted him to use, Buck refused to pay the person or reduced the person's pay. Ultimately, if a victim refused to use methamphetamine too many times, Buck would lose interest and would no longer hire the person to party and play.

Twice, Buck's party-and-play fetish resulted in fatal methamphetamine overdoses in Buck's apartment. Undeterred, Buck continued to distribute methamphetamine and distributing the drug to additional victims, including a man who overdosed twice in Buck's apartment but lived after receiving immediate medical treatment. Buck also enticed men to travel to California from other states to engage in prostitution through party-and-play sessions. Buck bought a plane ticket for Moore, who had moved to Texas, so Moore could travel to Los Angeles in July 2017 to party and play at Buck's apartment. In September 2018, Buck purchased a plane ticket for another man to fly from Iowa to Los Angeles.

          Buck will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.