Buck, it is alleged, invited black men - some were sex workers or homeless - to his apartment, before giving them meth and other drugs, sometimes forcibly injecting them while they were unconscious. The allegations of several other men, contained in the court documents, suggest a pattern of conduct.
He was later indicted on charges of running a drug house, battery causing serious injury, administering meth, three counts of distributing meth, and two counts of distributing meth causing death. It took a black man fleeing from Buck’s house in September 2019 - and phoning 911 - for the political donor to be arrested.
He ran from house to house, hoping his distress would be enough to elicit assistance of some kind - that at least a door would open. He began banging on people’s front doors, calling out for help. Those men, possessed by meth, smelling blood. All he had wanted was some fun, a connection, perhaps good sex, anything to forget his troubles - but instead he was running for his life, and they were catching up. Then he was running - 23 years old, on a darkened street, gasping, panicking, wondering how this had happened. But as Zhu reached the front door, one of the men caught up, in time to make a suggestion: “Why don’t you take the exit through the garage?”Īt this, Zhu knew it would be the last room he would see. The homeowner was the ringleader, directing everything that would unfold: enlisting two black men as bait to lure Zhu - an even younger black man - to his house, injecting him with crystal methamphetamine until he began to mentally detach then holding a pillow over his face while penetrating him.įinally, he managed to break loose. They had already kept him in the older, wealthy, white man’s house for 12 hours. The men pursuing him, one on foot, two in a car, had begun narrowing the gap. and a mile from his home when Jacen Zhu realized that if he were going to survive, he would have to run.
Part 3: This Is What Happens When Queer People Of Color Seek Help For Meth Addiction Part 2: This Is Why Queer People Of Color Are Becoming Addicted To Meth And Sex This is Part 1 of a BuzzFeed News series.