An Oregon man was convicted of assaulting a federal officer and using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence this week after setting up a booby trap that injured a federal officer. Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 71, was found guilty of the charges that stemmed from a 2018 incident in which he rigged an “Indiana Jones”-style booby trap of a “round hot tub that was on its side set to roll down the hill,” the US attorney’s office for Oregon said in a statement.
According to federal prosecutors, Rodvelt lost his house in a lawsuit, and once he realized that the property was due to be sold, he decided the best course of action was to booby trap the home. So extreme were his actions that bomb specialists with the Oregon State Police and the FBI had to be called to the property to investigate.
Gregory Lee Rodvelt was arrested in Arizona in April 2017 and charged with unlawful possession of explosives, according to FBI Special Agency Jeffrey Gray. When they got to his home in Williams, they saw it “was rigged with two booby traps,” which were disarmed to allow agents access to the front of the property. However, there they saw a hot tub tilted at a dangerous angle.
— Mr. Furious 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇩🇪 (@MoebiusDave) June 7, 2023
Upon interviewing him in Arizona, Rodvelt admitted setting up fishing line and a tripwire across the property gate. That would then trigger a round hot tub to roll down the hill and hit whoever tried to come through. The affidavit said that “Rodvelt described it by referencing the ‘stone rolling down in the Indiana Jones movie.”
However, that wasn’t the end of things. Knowing that there were likely further booby traps around the property, agents used an explosive to get through the front door, where they saw a wheelchair that, once touched, “triggered a homemade shotgun device that discharged a .410 shotgun shell that struck the FBI bomb technician below the knee.”
While the federal agent made a full recovery, Gregory Lee Rodvelt still faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced.
