Former employee in NC sentenced for an attempt to cause an explosion in the workplace, officials say

By Zach Rainey

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    AVERY COUNTY, North Carolina (WYFF) — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Dena King announced Thursday that a man from Avery County, North Carolina, was sentenced for making a destructive device and related offenses.

Thomas Taylor, Jr., 45, of Newland, North Carolina, has previously pleaded guilty to attempting to damage and destroy a building by fire and explosives, making a destructive device, and possession of an unregistered National Firearms Act weapon, court records state.

According to court records and the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Taylor was a former employee of the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, Inc., in Linville, North Carolina.

On Sept. 27, 2021, Taylor disabled the alarm system at the GMHG office, turned off the main power breaker, and hid a destructive device inside a closet. The destructive device consisted of a 48-quart cooler containing fuses bundled together and tied to an electric burner hotplate. The fuses then ran to fireworks and containers of flammable liquids. The hotplate itself was plugged into an outlet in the closet. Additionally, inside the cooler was a glass pitcher filled with rocks and a PVC pipe bomb. The court record shows that the device was made to ignite when someone turned on the main power breaker, which would result in an explosion to cause property damage, injury, and death to people nearby.

Taylor was sentenced Thursday to 97 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

He is currently in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, awaiting placement by the Bureau of Prisons.

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