Ex-DEA agent charged with pointing gun at co-worker and motorist in separate incidents
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A former Drug Enforcement Administration agent charged last year with stockpiling illegal weapons and domestic violence now faces additional charges for pointing a gun at a fellow federal agent and waving a firearm during a 2024 road rage incident, records show.
James Young, 53, faces up to 29 years in prison after prosecutors charged him with five counts of assault with a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a gun at another motorist and causing a hit-and-run accident, according to an amended criminal complaint filed last month.
The charges stem from a 2022 incident at the DEA’s Los Angeles field office that seemingly cost Young his badge, and the alleged road rage episode two years later.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy Trevor Kirk was sentenced Monday to four months in prison. He had previously faced up to 10 years in prison, until a federal judge granted the government’s request to dismiss the felony charge.
“My office will not tolerate criminal conduct by those we entrust to enforce the law. The disturbing allegations of this case — including domestic violence, multiple assaults with a firearm, and an intentional hit-and-run — represent both a threat to public safety and a betrayal of public trust,” L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in a statement.
Young’s attorney, Jeff Voll, declined to comment on the new charges.
The former agent was first arrested after he was accused of choking his estranged wife and placing her in a wrestling hold last year. A subsequent search of Young’s home turned up 30,000 rounds of ammunition, several grenades and a cache of 15 different firearms — including a sawed-off shotgun and four other weapons illegal to own under state law, records show. Police also found modified DEA credentials, meant to make it appear that Young was still a federal law enforcement officer, records show.
Young’s 25-year law enforcement career came to a close in 2022, when he allegedly jabbed his loaded service weapon into the abdomen of a fellow agent, according to court records. The victim was described as “a subordinate employee” in a notice published by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General last month.
Young was attempting to be “playful,” according to court records, but the other agent responded by disarming and physically subduing Young, who was ordered to surrender his gun and soon retired.
The DEA declined to comment on the charges against Young.
The other incident occurred in September last year on the 405 Freeway. According to a motion filed by the district attorney’s office last year, Young bumped another other car with his vehicle twice, then pointed a handgun in the other driver’s direction. The motorist was able to identify Young’s car, and the former agent told California Highway Patrol investigators that he was the only person who used that vehicle, according to court records.
Weeks later, Young allegedly called a former co-worker and made “vague, yet concerning, threats regarding the CHP officers.” He’d even learned their home addresses, according to court records.
Voll said there was no truth to that allegation.
“It never happened,” he said.
A sex abuse allegation against a youth soccer coach appears to have languished for months before the coach was charged with killing a 13-year-old boy.
The CHP presented a criminal threats case to prosecutors, which remains under review, according to Zara Lockshin, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.
Young was under investigation by three different law enforcement agencies last year when L.A. County Superior Court Judge Bernie LaForteza freed him on his own recognizance in October over strenuous objections from prosecutors, who noted he recently had been found in possession of a small arsenal.
The next day, Young was detained by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department again on suspicion of breaking into the Saugus home that he once shared with his wife.
When the new charges were filed last month, prosecutors argued for Young to be held in lieu of $235,000 bail, according to Lockshin. A judge again disregarded prosecutors’ concerns and allowed the former federal agent to remain free awaiting trial, though Young is subject to electric monitoring, Lockshin said.
A preliminary hearing will probably take place in the summer, according to Voll.
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