David Doherty was standing at his desk contained in the Los Angeles headquarters of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration when a supervisor from one other workplace stormed in hurling profanities.
Doherty testified at a preliminary listening to in a San Fernando courtroom earlier this yr {that a} fellow agent, James Younger, bought “nose to nose” with Doherty and challenged him to a struggle with out provocation.
Doherty stated he tried to deescalate by hugging Younger and saying it was “all good brother,” in keeping with his testimony. However then, Doherty stated, he felt Younger’s DEA-issued handgun jammed towards his midsection.
“I bought you motherf—,” Doherty recalled Younger saying.
Younger then aimed the weapon at Doherty’s face, in keeping with the agent’s testimony.
James Younger allegedly pointed a gun at a fellow federal agent throughout a 2022 incident on the Drug Enforcement Company workplace in Los Angeles.
(Al Seib / For The Instances)
Staring down the barrel of a gun wielded by an official who, at the moment in 2022, oversaw roughly 30 officers within the DEA’s Ventura County workplace, Doherty advised the courtroom, he wrestled Younger to the bottom and disarmed him.
Greater than two years later, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Younger, 54, with assault over the incident.
It was one in all a number of weird moments that led Younger to exit the DEA — however solely after the company promoted him twice regardless of documented considerations about his conduct and psychological well being.
The Instances reviewed a Los Angeles police report Doherty filed in regards to the alleged assault together with DEA disciplinary data and inside e-mails.
The data present DEA officers have been effectively conscious of Younger’s regarding conduct, but nonetheless gave him elevated duties. One high-ranking DEA official even tried to dissuade Doherty from reporting the assault to police, in keeping with the agent’s testimony and the LAPD report.
After Doherty’s preliminary listening to testimony, Younger was held to reply on on a number of fees for crimes he allegedly dedicated between 2022 and 2024, together with a highway rage incident, home violence and unlawful possession of a stockpile of weapons, ammo and grenades.
Younger, who stays free on bond, has pleaded not responsible to all fees. He declined to remark. His protection legal professional, Jeff Voll, stated he plans to ask a decide to grant Younger entry right into a diversion program as a result of psychological well being points, however provided no additional particulars about his consumer or the case.
A DEA spokeswoman stated she couldn’t reply to media inquiries due to the federal authorities shutdown, although the company has beforehand declined to touch upon The Instances reporting about Younger.
Younger’s first points on the DEA arose in 2012, whereas he was on task in Tokyo. That yr, he was despatched house after a “medical analysis” that decided he had points that have been “stopping or impeding his capability to carry out the requisite duties and duties of his place,” in keeping with a therapy settlement between Younger and the DEA reviewed by The Instances.
Younger was required to attend remedy for “psychological well being points” and “alcohol abuse,” the doc exhibits.
Younger was additionally suspended for 2 days as a result of “improper operation of a authorities car and poor judgment” whereas in Tokyo, in keeping with a DEA disciplinary discover.
Younger was reassigned to Los Angeles in 2013 and ultimately put accountable for the DEA’s satellite tv for pc workplace in Ventura County, in keeping with Doherty’s testimony.
In 2021, an agent filed a grievance towards Younger accusing him of creating “unstable, unprofessional cellphone calls” and “inappropriate feedback” towards subordinates, in keeping with an e-mail reviewed by The Instances. It was not clear what, if something, the DEA did in regards to the grievance.
Two federal regulation enforcement officers who requested anonymity as a result of they don’t seem to be licensed to talk publicly advised The Instances that many brokers sensed one thing was “off” with Younger, with each recounting tales of colleagues involved about how he dealt with firearms.
Doherty testified that after the gun incident on the DEA’s L.A. workplace in 2022, he felt like higher-ups on the company tried to guard Younger.
“I didn’t really feel prefer it was being dealt with appropriately, and I type of noticed the writing on the wall, that it was one thing DEA was making an attempt to brush beneath the rug,” Doherty stated in courtroom.
Doherty made a report at LAPD’s Central Division station shortly after the capturing. In it, he stated one other DEA official in L.A., Assistant Particular Agent in Cost Brian Clark, tried to discourage him from going to police. Clark warned Doherty that Younger may really search to press assault fees towards him, in keeping with the report, which didn’t clarify Clark’s rationale.
Clark, who’s now the particular agent accountable for the Los Angeles discipline workplace, didn’t reply to an e-mail looking for remark.
The LAPD investigation stopped when the top of the DEA’s Los Angeles discipline workplace, Invoice Bodner, referred to as then-LAPD Deputy Chief Al Labrada and claimed jurisdiction over the incident, in keeping with the police report.
Bodner left the DEA in 2023, in keeping with his LinkedIn profile. He and Labrada didn’t reply to questions from The Instances. A spokesperson for the LAPD didn’t reply to an inquiry in regards to the case.
The U.S. Justice Division’s Workplace of the Inspector Basic ultimately introduced a legal case to native prosecutors in December 2022, in keeping with a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district legal professional’s workplace. However the assault fees associated to the assault on the discipline workplace weren’t filed till June 2025. The spokeswoman declined to elucidate the delay.
Younger retired from the DEA in 2024, however was allowed to gather a paycheck on administrative depart for roughly 18 months after the alleged assault on Doherty, in keeping with two federal regulation enforcement officers.
In September 2024, Younger allegedly bought into an argument with a driver on the 405 Freeway, bumped the opposite car along with his automotive after which brandished a handgun on the sufferer, in keeping with a legal grievance.
The day after the highway rage incident, Younger allegedly attacked his spouse and positioned her in a wrestling maintain, making use of stress to her head and neck, authorities stated. A subsequent search of Younger’s Saugus house by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies turned up 30,000 rounds of ammunition, a number of grenades, a sawed-off shotgun and modified credentials to make it seem that Younger was nonetheless an lively DEA agent.
Investigators additionally discovered what was described in courtroom filings as a video of a “gang-style execution” being performed on a loop on a big display screen.
If convicted as charged, Younger faces as much as 29 years in state jail.
Within the Doherty incident, textual content messages displayed in courtroom present Younger claimed he didn’t notice why pulling his gun was flawed till after it occurred.
“Brother I like you. I might die for you. I’m sorry for not studying issues proper. I assumed we have been taking part in, however I do know I f— up and misinterpret the scenario,” Younger wrote to Doherty. “Pls forgive me … I’ll by no means do something to harm you. Please forgive me for pulling my gun. You possibly can file towards me. I concede that.”
