Two men were found dead Sunday morning in an apartment building on Hacienda Place as a result of what the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station apparently has told City Council members was a drug overdose.
The men were Vaughn Frederick York, 53, who is African-America and was in a room at 1130 Hacienda Place, just north of Holloway, and Devon Jacob Lopez Bergman, 21, a young Hispanic man. York’s profile on Facebook identifies him as an executive chef at NBC Universal.
The L.A. County Coroner’s Office has confirmed the deaths and says the cause is still under investigation. The men were pronounced dead at 9:40 a.m.
The Sheriff’s Station’s watch commander declined to confirm the deaths this morning, referring a question from WEHOville to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau, which also declined to confirm the deaths, referring the question of the Coroner’s Office.
However, Lt. William Moulder of the local Sheriff’s Station did send an email to City Council members early this morning mentioning the deaths and saying that they were probably the result of a drug overdose.
Councilmember John Duran, apparently relying on Moulder’s email, posted on his Facebook page today that “2 men who I assume to be gay aged 53 and 30 – overdosed and died on Hacienda Place …. Sheriffs have not yet released names of the men or whether the drugs were laced with fentanyl. But my gut is telling me – these 2 guys were having a good time yesterday and decided to party with blow or meth. They both expected to get up today and go to the gym or work.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the location of the deaths as 1124 Hacienda Place. The Sheriff’s Station would not confirm that the deaths occurred nor where they occurred, however a local resident assisted WEHOville by talking with neighbors on the block to learn the deaths occurred at 1130 Hacienda Place.
Vaughn York was not gay. Irresponsible to publicly out someone (falsely in this case) based on what your “gut” tells you. Sick. His family, whom i have known since the 80s, is hurting. Glib, irresponsible remarks from a public personality worsens it.
Wow, Mr. Duran is being cavalier with the death of these two men.I think he needs to apologize for such an off-hand remark. These two men may or may not be gay,but that is beside the point.Two deaths occur because of the widespread use of drugs,drugs that could be contaminate with who knows what.
why is a councilmember revealing things (that should likely remain confidential) especially before knowing the facts?
Speaking for my nephew Devon Bergman Lopez because he can’t he is not gay. He a hard worker, worked as a cook. He was friends with everyone. Love you miss you.
There is a prolific drug culture in West Hollywood. The City Council, City Manager and Director of Public Safety have not proposed any effort to stop it or at least slow it down. Not even as much as public warnings, seminars or billboards. As long as our elected officials and City Directors don’t care that members of our community are dying, this sort of thing will continue to happen. Due to the apathy of our “Leaders”, the blood of the dead (including at 1234 Laurel Ave.) is permanently on their hands. We as a community need to look out for… Read more »
Using two tragic deaths to whine about how tough white men have it. Pathetic!
Vaughn was a chef that I have work with for over 20 years. He was a good one. Will be missed, never replaced. Yes Chef. Sorry to see you go too soon.
I completely agree with Aliyah from the comments below
I can’t fathom the fact that you would mention or even suggest that they were Gay as if it has anything to do with their passings.
Highly disrespectful and out of line.
Gay, Straight, Transgender, Bisexuel, ect…. no matter what sexuality you chose to classify under, it should not matter or be discussed in a time of mourning & grieving.
Vaughn was amazing, so talented and caring. Always sweet and respectful…rest in peace dear soul, I love you.
You will be missed!
I find this article in poor taste, you should stick to reporting facts and not feeding or indulging the homophobic rants of Councilmember John Duran. These statements are a disgusting view into what Councilmember John Duran really think when faced with loss of life and in my opinion allowed to make statements above his pay grade . As an advocate in the LGBTQ community as an old family of Devon J Lopez Bergman I demand a retraction . While I stand with all LGBTQ and gender fluid people , Devon was not part of this community. This young man was… Read more »
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Ixchel,
Very well said! This article is insensitive to say the least. While I can’t speak for the older man’s family, I know the mother of the young man is grieving on an unimaginable level and is inconsolable. A more human reaction would’ve been to reach out to the families to see if there was anything they needed and/or send your condolences.
Devon, you will forever be in my heart, please know you were and are loved. Words can’t explain how much you’ll be missed. We are all heartbroken over the loss of your young life.
There is nothing wrong with this article. It reports the facts made public by the police, and clearly states that Duran probably relied solely on Moulder’s email to post his Facebook assumption that both men were gay.
If you have an issue, it’s with that attention monger, Duran. There’s nothing to retract here.
Vaughn, you will be missed by everyone who knew you…so sad to lose such a great guy at such a young age.
As a friend of Devon FEW of us find this very disrespectful l2 people just died and you wanna talk about you think their gay like that matters and HES NOT keep the article just what it is announcing there death that’s it
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