Self-proclaimed 'incel', 25, who stalked and sexually harassed women faces up to 13 years in prison
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: A self-proclaimed California “incel” has been arrested in San Mateo County for being involved in several violent attacks against women in Orange County. Johnny Deven Young, 25, of Anaheim, has been charged with four felony counts of assault with great bodily injury, four felony counts of illegal use of tear gas, four felony enhancements for the personal use of a deadly weapon, and eight felony hate crime enhancements. Besides he also faces five misdemeanor counts of violation of civil rights, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Officials said that Young was convicted in a misdemeanor hate crime earlier in Nevada. “He was transported to Orange County Jail last week after being convicted on a misdemeanor case in San Mateo County,” the DA’s office statement read. Some of his misogynistic actions were posted on YouTube as well, reported The Daily Beast.
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The criminal case against Young involves four women and a man who tried to stop one of the assaults. Costa Mesa police discovered two victims were at a local bar in a case in November 2021. A 24-year-old man was seen on the ground by a 29-year-old woman. She was confronted by a man when she stopped to help him. The suspect, who was identifed as Young, started to harass the woman verbally, and asked her to show her genitals and have sexual relations with her, police said.
The man ran to protect the woman when he witnessed Young harassing her. However, as the man approached, Young allegedly spraying a chemical agent pepper on the man and the woman. He fled before authorities arrived. However, after a few months, police came to know about another similar situation when they saw a video posted on social media of a man harassing women using sexually explicit language and later pepper spraying them. Two different incidents were shown in the video. In one incident, Young can be seen harassing a woman while following her through a parking garage and a second incident involving several woman sitting on a bench at the Triangle retail center in Costa Mesa.
“No one should have to live in fear that they could be indiscriminately attacked and then publicly humiliated on the Internet because of their gender,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement on Tuesday, September 27, adding, “This behavior is disgusting and the celebration of this behavior by like-minded individuals is completely unacceptable. These charges send a very strong message to that entire community that we will not tolerate violence against women in any form.”
Investigators discovered that Young has a history of targeting or stalking women outside clubs, bars and in fitness centers. He would record these situations wherin he would approach them normally before using sexually explicit language. Two victims have already described their encounters with Young during which they said they were pepper sprayed by him.
Police were searching for Young and his white and green Chevrolet cargo van. He was previously described as a transient with ties to Orange and San Diego counties and had last lived in Las Vegas. If he gets convicted on all counts, Young will face 13 years in prison. His bail was set at $500,000 and his arraignment was continued to October 10.