Avery County Man Sentenced to Prison

Asheville -- June 3, 2024: The Western District of North Carolina's U.S. Attorney, Dena J. King, said on Thursday

that an Avery County man had been found guilty of producing a destructive device and related offenses. He was sentenced to 97 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Previously, 45-year-old Thomas Dewey Taylor, Jr. of Newland, North Carolina, entered a guilty plea to charges of possessing an unregistered National Firearms Act weapon, constructing a destructive device, and attempting to use fire and explosives to damage and destroy a building used in interstate commerce. Today, Taylor was sentenced in federal court by U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger.

Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, Inc. (GMHG), based in Linville, North Carolina, is where Taylor was formerly employed, based on court documents and today's sentencing hearing. On September 27, 2021, Taylor went into the GMHG office, switched off the main power supply, and concealed a destructive device in an office closet. It was a 48-quart cooler housing fuse bundle attached to an electric burner hotplate that was the destructive device. Containers holding combustible substances and fireworks were connected to the fuses. An electrical outlet in the closet was where the extension cord that the hotplate was connected to was plugged in. The cooler included a PVC pipe bomb and a glass pitcher filled with rocks. The destructor was built to set off when someone turned on the main power breaker, according to court documents. This would trigger an explosion that would inflict harm to surrounding people as well as property damage and even death.
Up until the Bureau of Prisons places him, Taylor is still in the care of the U.S. Marshals Service.

WNCTimes