A longtime employee for the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games will serve eight years in federal prison for attempting 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: 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.

U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced him to 97 months Thursday.

The games take place each summer in the shadow of Grandfather Mountain, combining piping, drumming and traditional Gaelic athletic events, including the caber toss.

Homemade bomb with cooler and hotplate

In September of 2021, Dewey toted a 48-quart cooler into the Highland Games office in Linville and stashed it in a closet, according to federal court records. The cooler had been rigged with “hobby fuses” and rubber bands and tied to an electric hotplate dialed to the hottest setting.

The fuses connected to fireworks and containers full of ignitable fluid, court records said, while the hotplate ran by extension cord into a wall outlet. The cooler also contained a pitcher full of rocks and a PVC pipe bomb.

The main power to the Highland Games office had been turned off, records said, but had it been switched on at the breaker, the hotplate would have lit the fuse.

Discovering the homemade bomb caused a “nightmare” for the tight-knit community, court records said.

“The reasons behind his bizarre behavior are not completely clear, but there appear to be a combination of contributing factors: prescription medications, COVID isolation, alcoholism, and legal substance misuse all may have played a part,” according to a sentencing memorandum filed by his attorney.

A Highland Games worker seen he was 14

His family sent many letters to the court explaining that Taylor had worked for the games since he was 14, and was an intelligent and hard-working man no one would think capable of crime.

A letter from his mother said that he had told Games management that he was having a mental breakdown but was told to “suck it up,” court records said. The attorney’s memo said he was later fired poor performance and potential 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 counseling as he can participate in, along with drug and alcohol treatment,” said his attorney’s letter, in court records. “In addition to the therapy and drug counseling, he would also like to learn a new vocational skill,with a particular interest in automotives or carpentry.”

Taylor remains in federal custody.