OCALA, Florida -- A Central Florida man who planned to bomb Target stores from Florida to New York in a money-making scheme was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in federal prison.
- Mark Charles Barnett sentenced to 40 years in federal prison
- Prosecutors say he plotted to bomb Target stores from Florida to NY
- Confidential source surrendered devices to authorities
Mark Charles Barnett, 50, of Ocala was convicted in July of attempted arson and possession and making an unregistered destructive device.
Prosecutors said Barnett offered a confidential source $10,000 to put homemade bombs inside common grocery items and place them on Target store shelves. He thought the company's stock would tank after the explosions, which he could buy cheaply before the stock increased in value again.
Barnett, a registered sex offender who'd previously been convicted of felonies, told the confidential source, "If someone has to die so that I can make some money, so be it," prosecutors said.
The homemade bomb devices didn't make it to the stores, because the confidential source turned them over to authorities.