Man sentenced for pipe bomb

MISSOULA – A Libby man was sentenced to three years in federal prison for planting a pipe bomb in a U.S. Forest Service vehicle last year in an apparent suicide attempt.

Stephen Young, 56, also received three years of supervised release at his sentencing Friday in U.S. District Court in Missoula. He had pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device.

Young, a former certified blaster for the Forest Service, admitted to building the bomb and planting it June 1 in an agency pickup truck at a Kootenai National Forest ranger station in Trout Creek, investigators said. He said he intended to kill himself and planted the bomb in his government vehicle so his family could collect on his life insurance.

Young removed the pipe bomb after a seasonal employee told him she had to move his truck.

He later reported finding a suspicious device in his vehicle’s empty parking space, and the bomb was detonated by the Missoula County Bomb Squad the next day.

Investigators connected Young to the incident after finding three pieces of electrical tape on a pipe in his vehicle’s exhaust system.

Young later detailed how he built the device, what materials he used and how he placed it on his Forest Service vehicle.