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Gregory Lee Rodvelt seized his home in Williams, Oregon, after losing his property in a lawsuit. He hospitalized an FBI bomb technician in September 2018.
One booby trap included a hot tub that rolled down a hill like in the infamous scene from the 1981 Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The 72-year-old was sentenced Wednesday to 12 1/2 years in a federal correctional facility by U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. McShane.
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A 72-year-old Oregon man has been jailed for 12 years after setting “intricate and deadly” Indiana Jones-inspired booby traps in his home.
Gregory Lee Rodvelt assembled his home in the small town of Williams after he lost his property in a lawsuit and hospitalized an FBI bomb technician in September 2018.
One booby trap included a hot tub that was rigged to roll down a hill like in the infamous scene from the 1981 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Rodvelt was found guilty of assaulting a federal officer and using and discharging a firearm during a violent crime on June 2.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. McShane sentenced him to 12 1/2 years in a federal correctional facility.
Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 72, from Oregon, has been jailed for 12 years after setting up “intricate and deadly” Indiana Jones-inspired booby traps in his home.
One booby trap included a hot tub that was rigged to roll down a hill like in the infamous rock scene from the 1981 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.
“This individual went to great lengths to set intricate and deadly hidden traps to prevent FBI agents from doing their jobs,” FBI Special Agent Kieran L. Ramsey said following the sentencing.
‘These were no joke. Mr. Rodvelt knew he was breaking the law and his reprehensible actions are what earned him this sentence.
Rodvelt set up booby traps to prevent the government from taking over his house. He set up traps like a wheelchair that fired a shotgun and a hot tub that rolled downhill when activated.
A real estate attorney in charge of selling the property had notified the police after finding a sign warning that the home was “protected by improvised devices.”
When Oregon State Police and FBI bomb technicians arrived at the property, they noticed steel animal traps placed on a gate post as well as under the hood of the minivan blocking the gate.
Homemade spike strips were also detected, which the lawyer had already stepped over in the past.
After disarming the traps, FBI agents and the bomb squad headed toward the residence.
“They observed a hot tub that had been placed on its side and arranged so that when a door was opened it activated a mechanical trigger that caused the spa to roll toward the person who had opened the door,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. for Oregon.
Police compared the scene to one from an Indiana Jones movie in which Harrison Ford is forced to escape from a giant stone boulder that he inadvertently activated using a booby-trapped switch.
After passing the hot tub, a bomb squad and FBI agents approached the manufactured home on the property and threw open the fortified front door.
Rodvelt set up his home in the small town of Williams after losing his property in a lawsuit and hospitalizing an FBI bomb technician in September 2018.
They then came across a rigged wheelchair that Rodvelt placed in the front entrance of the house and designed to activate a homemade shotgun device.
As agents entered the home, the wheelchair fired a .410 shotgun shell that struck the unidentified FBI bomb technician below the knee.
The officer yelled ‘I’m hit!’ when blood began to flow from his leg. He was taken to the hospital and treated for the leg injury.
But Rodvelt had left even more booby traps. In the garage, officers found a rat trap modified to accept a shotgun shell.
The trap was unloaded but was connected to the front garage door so it would activate when the door was opened.
Technicians also discovered that the windows had been secured from the inside and that there were security doors at both the front and rear of the property.
There appeared to be bullet holes in the front door from shots fired inside.
Investigators said Rodvelt had admitted to setting booby traps during an interview.
“During the interview, Rodvelt stated that he rigged a fishing line and a trip wire across the gate of the property leading to a round hot tub that was on its side to roll down the hill and hit whoever walked through the gate,” the investigators wrote. agents in the criminal complaint.
‘Rodvelt described it with reference to “the rolling stone in the Indiana Jones movie.”‘
Rodvelt had lost the house in an elder abuse case involving his mother.
At the time of the incident, Rodvelt had been in an Arizona jail since April 2017 on charges of illegal possession of explosives, but the courts had released him for two weeks so he could prepare to turn over the property.