DEA promoted L.A. agent who pointed gun at colleague despite issues

As David Doherty stood at his desk at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles headquarters, a manager from another office charged in, shouting profanities.

Doherty testified at a preliminary hearing in a San Fernando courtroom earlier this year that fellow agent James Young “confronted” Doherty and challenged him to a fight without provocation.

Doherty said he tried to defuse tensions by hugging Young and telling him “everything’s okay, bro,” according to his testimony. But Doherty said he felt Young’s DEA-issued gun jammed into his stomach.

“I got you, mom…” Doherty recalled Young saying.

Young then pointed the gun at Doherty’s face, according to the agent’s statement.

Doherty told the court that in 2022, when an officer supervising about 30 officers at the DEA’s Ventura County office looked down the barrel of the gun he was using, he pinned Young to the ground and disarmed him.

More than two years later, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Young, 54, with assault in the incident.

This was one of several awkward moments that led to Young leaving the DEA; only after the agency promoted him twice despite documented concerns about his behavior and mental health.

The Times reviewed the Los Angeles police report Doherty submitted about the alleged assault, along with DEA ​​disciplinary records and internal emails.

Records show that DEA officials were aware of Young’s alarming behavior but still gave him more responsibility. A senior DEA official even tried to dissuade Doherty from reporting the attack to police, according to the agent’s testimony and the LAPD report.

Following Doherty’s pretrial testimony, Young was held to answer on multiple charges related to crimes he allegedly committed between 2022 and 2024, including a road rage incident, domestic violence and possession of an illegal stockpile of guns, ammunition and grenades.

Young, who was released on bail, pleaded not guilty to all charges. He refused to comment. Defense attorney Jeff Voll said he plans to ask the judge to allow Young to enter a diversion program for mental health issues, but did not provide further details about his client or the case.

A DEA spokesman said he was unable to respond to media questions due to the federal government shutdown, but the agency had previously declined to comment on The Times’ reporting on Young.

Young’s first troubles at the DEA emerged in 2012, while he was stationed in Tokyo. That year, he was sent home after a “medical evaluation” determined that he had problems that “interfered with or interfered with his ability to perform the duties and functions required of his position,” according to a treatment agreement between Young and the DEA reviewed by The Times.

According to the document, Young was required to attend therapy for “mental health issues” and “alcohol addiction.”

Young was also suspended for two days for “improper use of government instrument and poor judgment” while in Tokyo, according to the DEA’s disciplinary notice.

Young was reassigned to Los Angeles in 2013 and eventually was named head of the DEA’s satellite office in Ventura County, Doherty said.

In 2021, a representative filed a complaint against Young accusing him of making “volatile, unprofessional phone calls” and “inappropriate comments” toward subordinates, according to an email reviewed by The Times. It was unclear what the DEA was doing about the complaint.

Two federal law enforcement officials, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly, told The Times that many agents sensed something was “off” with Young, and both cited colleagues’ concerns about how he handled firearms.

Doherty stated that he felt that the agency’s upper levels were trying to protect Young after the gun incident at the DEA’s Los Angeles office in 2022.

“I didn’t feel like the situation was handled appropriately and I saw the writing on the wall that this was something the DEA was trying to sweep under the rug,” Doherty said in court.

Doherty filed a report at the LAPD’s Central Division station shortly after the shooting. In it, he said Deputy Special Agent in Charge Brian Clark, another DEA official in Los Angeles, tried to dissuade him from going to the police. Clark warned Doherty that Young might file assault charges against him, according to the report, which did not explain Clark’s reasoning.

Clark, now the special agent in charge of the Los Angeles field office, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

According to the police report, the LAPD investigation was halted when Bill Bodner, head of the DEA’s Los Angeles field office, called then-LAPD Deputy Chief Al Labrada and requested jurisdiction over the case.

Bodner left the DEA in 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile. He and Labrada did not respond to questions from The Times. A spokesman for the LAPD did not respond to an inquiry about the case.

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General eventually submitted a criminal case to local prosecutors in December 2022, according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. However, assault charges related to the attack at the field office were not filed until June 2025. The spokesman declined to explain the delay.

Young retired from the DEA in 2024 but was allowed to collect a paycheck on administrative leave for about 18 months following the alleged attack on Doherty, according to two federal law enforcement officials.

According to the criminal complaint, in September 2024, Young allegedly got into an argument with a driver on the 405 Freeway, crashed his car into the other vehicle and then pointed a gun at the victim.

The day after the road rage incident, Young allegedly attacked his wife and put her in a wrestling position, applying pressure to her head and neck, authorities said. A subsequent search of Young’s Saugus home by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies turned up 30,000 rounds of ammunition, several grenades, a sawn-off shotgun, and identification that had been altered to indicate Young was still an active DEA agent.

Investigators also found a video described in court filings as a “gang-style execution” playing on a loop on a widescreen.

Young faces up to 29 years in state prison if convicted.

In the Doherty incident, text messages viewed in court show Young claiming he didn’t understand why it was wrong to draw his gun until it happened.

“Brother I love you. I would die for you. I’m sorry I didn’t read some things correctly. I thought we were playing but I know I screwed up and misread the situation,” Young wrote to Doherty. “Please forgive me… I will not do anything to hurt you. Please forgive me for drawing my gun. You can file a lawsuit against me. I accept that.”