LINVILLE, N.C. — A former employee of Grandfather Mountain Highland Games (GMHG) accused of trying to damage the GMHG office building has been sentenced to prison.
Thomas Taylor, Jr., of Newland, previously pleaded guilty to attempting to damage and destroy a building used in interstate commerce by fire and explosive, possession of an unregistered National Firearms Act weapon, and making a destructive device.
Now, he's been sentenced to 97 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
On Sept. 27, 2021, Taylor disabled the alarm system for the GMHG office then turned off the main power breaker and hid a destructive device inside a closet, court records show.
The district attorney's office said the device was made up of "a 48-quart cooler housing fuses bundled together and tied to an electric burner hotplate," with fuses running to fireworks and containers of liquids that could burn easily. A glass pitcher with rocks and a PVC pipe bomb were found inside the cooler, according to the district attorneys' office.
The device was designed to ignite when the main power breaker was turned on, according to court records, and would have exploded in a way that could have killed or hurt people nearby in addition to damaging property.
Taylor is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service until he is placed by the Bureau of Prisons.