Man whose home was rigged with an Indiana Jones booby trap guilty of injuring a federal agent

Gregory Lee Rodvelt of Williams, Oregon was found guilty of assaulting and using a firearm and firing a federal officer on June 2 during and in connection with a violent crime stemming from an incident at his home on September 7, 2018 have.

According to local reports, Rodvelt lost his property in a lawsuit by his mother. Despite being behind bars in Arizona for an unrelated incident, he was released from prison in August 2018 for two weeks to prepare the house for sale; Instead, he is said to have loaded the property with extremely dangerous traps. The person in charge of selling the property asked authorities for help after returning to the home and finding a sign saying it was now “protected with improvised devices.”

Bomb technicians from the Oregon State Police and the FBI responded to the house shortly thereafter… and according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Officeimmediately saw some of Rodvelt’s work in action.

“When bomb technicians arrived at the property, they noticed a minivan blocking the gate. The technicians found steel animal traps attached to a gate post and under the hood of the minivan. They also found home-made spiked strips that the recipient had previously inserted,” the Justice Department said.

“As the technician approached the home, they noticed a hot tub that was placed on its side and mounted so that opening a gate activated a mechanical trigger that caused the hot tub to roll toward the person who opened the gate.” , the press release continues.

A photo of the whirlpool siphon can be seen below:

If this sounds like a familiar setup, it’s apparently inspired by the famous opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark. According to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Jeffrey GrayRodvelt later confirmed that he was inspired by the film – allegedly describing the trap “by referring to the stone that rolled down into the depths”. Indiana Jones Movie.'”

Authorities managed to work around these initial obstacles before “discovering a rat trap modified to accept a shotgun shell” that was triggered when the garage door was opened. However, the trap was discharged. The officers then gained access to the house by setting an explosive charge on the front door.

“The group cautiously entered the apartment, looked for traps and found a wheelchair in the middle of the front entrance. When the wheelchair was bumped, it triggered a homemade shotgun device that fired a .410 shotgun shell that hit the FBI bomb technician in the bottom of the knee,” the prosecutors’ press release said. The injured technician was taken to the hospital, treated for his injuries and released.

Rodvelt will be sentenced at a later date, but faces up to 20 years in federal prison. However, his defense attorney described the maximum penalty as “unrealistic”.