A case against Douglas James Young, Jr., who faces 40 sex-abuse related charges, continued June 6 with an appearance by Young before Judge Thomas McHill in Linn County Circuit Court, scheduled as an early resolution conference.
“There’s a lot of discovery in this case,” said Jason E. Thompson, Young’s attorney. “It’s extremely voluminous. We’re still working through that.”
He said he would like to have another hearing on Aug. 14 and that there was additional discovery he had requested from the state.
Young was arrested twice in March on sex-abuse charges; he is currently out on bail.
He has hired Thompson, of Ferder, Casebeer, French & Thompson, LLP, to represent him after attorney Arnold Poole filed a motion on March 20 to withdraw.
Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Crow agreed to the Aug. 14 hearing.
“I expect that we’ll have at least made serious attempts to negotiate by then,” Crow said. “We haven’t at this point because, from a reports standpoint, it’s just very voluminous. I did want to check about the security release agreement.”
Thompson said Crow wanted to confirm that all of the named victims are listed on the most current copy of the security release agreement. He said he believed the most recent agreement, dated March 17, 2017 listed all the named alleged victims.”
“The state just wants to point out that the standard language here is that the defendant is not to have contact with those people and not to have contact with members of their households,” Crow said. “If that has been happening, that needs to stop.”
Young uses some family members of the alleged victims as babysitters “from time to time,” Thompson said.
“I don’t know if the state would have any objection to the limited purpose of the contact just for those purposes,” Thompson said.
Crow responded that he was not sure if he understood the situation.
“Who is the child that is being cared for?” Crow asked.
Thompson conferred with Young and responded that he could find somebody else.
Young, 45, was first arrested on March 14 on five counts of first-degree sex abuse and four counts of second-degree sex abuse.
He was arraigned on March 15 before Linn County Circuit Judge David E. Delsman. His bail was set at $150,000.
He posted bail on March 15 and was arrested again the next day and was arraigned in Linn County Circuit Court on March 17 on 34 more counts of sex abuse.
He posted bail again, which was set at an additional $150,000 for a total of $300,000, on March 17, with a condition of his release to not have contact with the alleged victims or their families or unsupervised contact with children.
Young filed motions on March 29 to disqualify two judges from hearing his case.
The supporting affidavits state that Young has discussed the possible judge assignments with his attorney and he does not believe he can have a fair or impartial trial or other hearings in front of Linn County Circuit Judges Carol R. Bispham or DeAnn L. Novotny.
Young was scheduled for a hearing before Bispham on April 17. That was canceled and scheduled for June 6 with McHill.
The alleged incidents of sex abuse occurred between 2002 and February of this year, according to court documents.
Young faces 15 counts of first-degree sex abuse, a class B felony; nine counts of second-degree sex abuse, a class C felony; nine counts of second-degree sodomy, a class B felony; and four counts of third-degree sex abuse, which is a class A misdemeanor.
He also was charged with one count of third-degree attempted sex abuse, a class B misdemeanor; two counts of using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct, a class A felony.
Young’s arrest is the result of an investigation that began on Feb. 28, 2017 when it was reported that Young had inappropriate contact with a minor.
During the course of the investigation, additional victims, who are now adults, were contacted and interviewed.
At the time this was reported to law enforcement, Young was an active Boys Scouts of America leader, according to an LPD news release. At this time, there is no information indicating that these crimes took place during a Boy Scout-affiliated event.
LPD has had contact with Young over the past 12 years, including twice for alleged sex abuse. No charges were filed in those instances.