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, obtained “nose to nose” with Doherty and challenged him to a combat with out provocation.
Doherty mentioned he tried to deescalate by hugging Younger and saying it was “all good brother,” in line with his testimony. However then, Doherty mentioned, he felt Younger’s DEA-issued handgun jammed in opposition to his midsection.
“I obtained you motherf—,” Doherty recalled Younger saying.
Younger then aimed the weapon at Doherty’s face, in line 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 informed 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 habits and psychological well being.
The Instances reviewed a Los Angeles police report Doherty filed in regards to the alleged assault together with DEA disciplinary information and inside e-mails.
The information present DEA officers have been properly conscious of Younger’s regarding habits, but nonetheless gave him elevated tasks. One high-ranking DEA official even tried to dissuade Doherty from reporting the assault to police, in line 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 prices for crimes he allegedly dedicated between 2022 and 2024, together with a street 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 prices. He declined to remark. His protection lawyer, Jeff Voll, mentioned he plans to ask a choose to grant Younger entry right into a diversion program attributable to psychological well being points, however provided no additional particulars about his consumer or the case.
A DEA spokeswoman mentioned 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 project in Tokyo. That yr, he was despatched house after a “medical analysis” that decided he had points that have been “stopping or impeding his skill to carry out the requisite duties and duties of his place,” in line 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 attributable to “improper operation of a authorities automobile and poor judgment” whereas in Tokyo, in line with a DEA disciplinary discover.
Younger was reassigned to Los Angeles in 2013 and ultimately put in command of the DEA’s satellite tv for pc workplace in Ventura County, in line with Doherty’s testimony.
In 2021, an agent filed a grievance in opposition to Younger accusing him of constructing “unstable, unprofessional cellphone calls” and “inappropriate feedback” towards subordinates, in line 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 aren’t approved to talk publicly informed 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 form of noticed the writing on the wall, that it was one thing DEA was making an attempt to brush below the rug,” Doherty mentioned in courtroom.
Doherty made a report at LAPD’s Central Division station shortly after the capturing. In it, he mentioned 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 prices in opposition to him, in line with the report, which didn’t clarify Clark’s rationale.
Clark, who’s now the particular agent in command of the Los Angeles area workplace, didn’t reply to an e-mail looking for remark.
The LAPD investigation stopped when the pinnacle of the DEA’s Los Angeles area workplace, Invoice Bodner, referred to as then-LAPD Deputy Chief Al Labrada and claimed jurisdiction over the incident, in line with the police report.
Bodner left the DEA in 2023, in line 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 Common ultimately offered a prison case to native prosecutors in December 2022, in line with a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district lawyer’s workplace. However the assault prices associated to the assault on the area 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 line with two federal regulation enforcement officers.
In September 2024, Younger allegedly obtained into an argument with a driver on the 405 Freeway, bumped the opposite automobile along with his automobile after which brandished a handgun on the sufferer, in line with a prison grievance.
The day after the street rage incident, Younger allegedly attacked his spouse and positioned her in a wrestling maintain, making use of strain to her head and neck, authorities mentioned. 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.
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 fallacious till after it occurred.
“Brother I really like you. I might die for you. I’m sorry for not studying issues proper. I assumed we have been enjoying, however I do know I f— up and misinterpret the state of affairs,” 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 may file in opposition to me. I concede that.”
