COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Columbia man serving time for murder will serve additional time for orchestrating a murder plot against his ex-wife.
Michael James Young Jr., 32, was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison for attempting to mail a bomb to his ex-wife. The bomb was purchased while Young was an inmate at Broad River Correctional Institution. He was serving a 50-year sentence for trying to kill his wife and murdering her father in 2007.
Young reportedly used a smuggled cell phone to buy the bomb from a foreign explosive dealer on the Dark Web. However, that dealer was actually an undercover FBI agent.
A co-conspirator 23-year-old Tyrell Fears took the bomb, along with a re-shipment label address to his ex-wife, to an Irmo post office. Fears was under surveillance at the time, and the package was intercepted.
Young, Fears also reportedly ran a drug ring during this time with Vance Volious. Marijuana was purchased by Young from a California supplier and the Dark Web, then re-distributed by Fear and Volious.
Young, Volious and Fears were all arrested on federal charges. Young was sentenced to 43 years and Fears sentenced to 10 years. Volious, who was also a co-conspirator in the murder plot, will be sentenced at a later date.
