L.A. judge frees ex-DEA agent accused of road rage and illegal weapons

Oct. 25, 2024 3 AM PT

When Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies searched a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent’s home last month, court records show they found DEA credentials modified to make it appear that he was still on active duty, along with 30,000 rounds of ammunition, several grenades and a cache of 15 different firearms — including a sawed-off shotgun and four others illegal to own under California law.

Inside the Saugus home of James Young, L.A. County prosecutors said, the deputies also discovered a disturbing scene: footage of a “gang execution” playing on “loop replay” on a screen.

Now the subject of investigations by three law enforcement agencies, Young has been accused of assault, threatening California Highway Patrol officers, brandishing a gun during a road rage incident and choking his estranged wife, according to court documents filed by prosecutors this month.

Arguing to keep Young jailed until trial following his Sept. 30 arrest, prosecutors described him as an “unacceptable risk” to public safety in a motion filed last week. L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Jacqueline Redruello expressed concern about Young’s mental health after his erratic behavior and allegedly expressing a desire to die by suicide, records show.

Despite expressing “grave concern” about Young’s mental state on Oct. 9, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Bernie LaForteza set him free.

Within hours, authorities said Young was detained by the Sheriff’s Department again on suspicion of breaking into the Saugus home, which he once shared with his wife.

LaForteza is barred from commenting on his rulings by the state’s judicial ethics code. A spokesman for the court system declined to comment further.

“After careful consideration of the risk factors outlined by California case law, the court appropriately granted Mr. Young’s release on his own recognizance,” Young’s attorney, L.A. County Deputy Public Defender Chanel Call, said in a statement. “The decision reflects a thorough evaluation of all relevant factors, and consistent with the presumption of innocence, his release is both fair and justified.”

The incident that seemingly cost Young his job at the DEA was more than two years ago, when he allegedly jabbed his loaded service weapon into the abdomen of a fellow agent, according to court records.

Although Young was attempting to be “playful,” according to L.A. County prosecutors, the other agent disarmed and physically subdued Young, who was ordered to surrender his gun and soon retired, ending his 25-year career.

The DEA declined to answer specific questions about Young, including what steps the agency took to ensure he no longer had access to government credentials.

In an e-mailed statement, DEA spokeswoman Katherine Pfaff said the agency “is firmly committed to upholding our high standards of conduct each and every day. The vast majority of our men and women do so.”

Young’s recent issues began on Sept. 12, when he got into an argument with a motorist in the HOV lane on the 405 Freeway, records show. According to the bail motion filed by the D.A.’s office, Young bumped the other car with his vehicle twice, then brandished a handgun in the other person’s direction.

The other driver was able to identify the make, model and license plate on Young’s vehicle, and Young told CHP detectives that he was the only person who used that car, according to court records.

Less than two weeks later, Young called a friend he worked with at the DEA and made “vague, yet concerning, threats, regarding the CHP officers” investigating the road rage incident, according to court documents. Young had gone as far as to find their home addresses, the document said.

A CHP spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said the case is under review for possible filing.

The day after the incident on the 405, Young allegedly attacked his estranged wife, according to court documents. Prosecutors said Young choked her and placed her in a “full nelson” wrestling hold, which involves applying pressure to the head and neck. His wife was granted a criminal protective order barring Young from contacting her or his three children, court records show.

On Oct. 1, sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a shooting at Young’s Saugus home. They found no evidence of a gunshot, but discovered Young’s weapons collection and the “gang execution” video, according to the motion.

The former agent was arrested and jailed until Oct. 9, when he appeared before LaForteza in a San Fernando courthouse.

While Redruello, the prosecutor, pleaded with the judge to keep Young behind bars due to his collection of weapons and recent behavior, LaForteza noted most of the guns Young owned were legal to possess, and described the smoke grenades as “inert.”

“I am trying to understand how possession of assaultive weapons and sawed-off shotgun, how does that deem this defendant such a danger to the public that the court should set a preventative detention and no bail?” LaForteza asked.

LaForteza also said Young’s weapons had been seized and wondered why the defendant had yet to be charged in either the road rage case or the September 2022 incident at the DEA where he allegedly pressed a gun to another agent’s rib cage.

Those cases remain under review, according to the district attorney’s office.

Young’s co-worker in the 2022 incident filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department, according to court records. An LAPD spokeswoman said the criminal case was investigated by the DEA. The DEA declined to answer questions about the incident.

For the record:

6:55 p.m. Oct. 29, 2024An earlier version of this report said James Young was not arrested for entering a Saugus residence because he had not yet been served with a protective order that barred him from the property. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office subsequently said Young was ordered to stay away from his wife and children, but was not restricted from visiting the Saugus home.

Within hours of his release on Oct. 9, Young was detained on suspicion of residential burglary at the Saugus home, according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Department. Authorities said Young was subject to a criminal protective order that required him to stay away from his wife and children, but he was not barred from entering the residence. .

Young remains free, while wearing an ankle monitor, until his next court appearance in San Fernando on Oct. 29.