A Cobb County man was sentenced Monday to just over five years in federal prison for selling a homemade bomb to an undercover officer.
Mark Young, 46, of Cobb County, was sentenced to five years, three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in an emailed press release. Young pleaded guilty and was convicted in February.
“The recent tragedy in Boston underscores the havoc a homemade bomb can wreak,” Yates said. “We are committed to aggressively prosecuting those who put the safety and security of our citizens at risk by constructing explosives devices.”
In January 2012, an undercover officer was informed of Young’s homemade devices and contacted him, according to court testimony. Young spoke in code to the undercover officer and the two met at a mall parking lot, where Young gave the officer a device on a paper plate, Yates said.
Young described the substance as being capable of making an explosion that would be similar to a few “M 80’s going off,” Yates said. The following month, Young told the undercover officer he had made a new batch of C-4, a type of plastic explosive.
Young sold the device to the undercover officer and ATF chemists determined it was an explosive, Yates said.
In April 2012, Young and the officer arranged to meet again to sell another explosive. Young sold the device to the officer for $750 and was arrested, Yates said. The device was determined to be an IED, or Improvised Explosive Device.
Atlanta police assisted with the investigation.
About the Author
