A longtime employee of the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games will serve eight years in prison for trying to blow up the games office with a homemade bomb.
Thomas Dewey Taylor Jr., 45, of Newland in Avery County, pleaded guilty to several federal charges: Attempted Damage and Destruction of a Building Used in the Interstate Commerce of Fire and Explosives, Possession of an Unregistered National Firearms Act weapon and creating a destructive device.
U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced him to 97 months on Thursday.
The games take place every summer in the shadow of Grandfather Mountain, combining bagpipes, drums and traditional Gaelic athletic events including the caber toss.
Homemade bomb with cooler and hotplate
According to federal court records, Dewey dragged a 10-gallon cooler to the Highland Games office in Linville in September 2021 and stored it in a closet. The cool box was fitted with ‘hobby fuses’ and rubber bands and tied to an electric stove that was on the hottest setting.
The fuses were connected to fireworks and containers full of flammable liquid, court records said, while the stove ran through an extension cord into an electrical outlet. The cooler also contained a jar full of rocks and a PVC pipe bomb.
Records show the main power to the Highland Games office was turned off, but if it had been turned on via the circuit breaker, the hob would have tripped the fuse.
The discovery of the homemade bomb created a “nightmare” for the tight-knit community, according to court records.
“The reasons behind his bizarre behavior are not entirely clear, but there appears to be a combination of contributing factors: prescription medications, COVID isolation, alcoholism, and legal substance abuse may all have played a role,” according to a sentencing memorandum filed by his lawyer.
An employee at the Highland Games saw that he was fourteen
His family sent many letters to the court explaining that Taylor had worked for the Games since the age of fourteen and was an intelligent and hardworking man who no one thought was capable of crime.
A letter from his mother said he told Games management he was having a nervous breakdown but was told to “suck it up,” according to court records. The attorney’s memo stated that he was later fired for poor performance and possible embezzlement and was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement, adding to his stress.
“He desperately wants to receive as much therapy and mental health care as he can, in addition to drug and alcohol treatment,” his attorney’s letter in the lawsuits said. “In addition to therapy and drug counseling, he would also like to learn a new vocational skill, with a particular interest in cars or carpentry.”
Taylor remains in federal custody.
