Oregon man rigged home in ‘Indiana Jones-inspired booby traps’ including rigged wheelchair
Oregon man who lost his home in a lawsuit and rigged it in ‘Indiana Jones-inspired booby traps’ including wheelchair shooting at FBI agent has been found guilty of assaulting a federal officer
- Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 71, was booby-trapped at his home in southern Oregon in 2018
- He set up a wheelchair designed to activate a homemade shotgun when pumped
- An FBI bomb technician was hit by a 410 shotgun grenade
An Oregon man who booby-trapped his home after losing property in a lawsuit has been found guilty of assaulting an FBI agent who was shot at by a wheelchair with a shotgun.
Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 71, was accused of using Indiana Jones-inspired traps to prevent the government from taking his home in the small town of Williams in September 2018.
After learning that a trustee had been appointed to sell the property, Rodvelt set traps such as a wheelchair that fired a shotgun and a hot tub that would roll down a hill when activated.
A real estate attorney in charge of selling the property had called for police after finding a sign warning that the home was “secured by makeshift devices.”
When Oregon State Police and FBI bomb technicians arrived at the property, they saw steel animal traps attached to a gate post, as well as under the hood of the minivan blocking the gate.
Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 71, was found guilty of assaulting an FBI agent with a rigged wheelchair
Rodvelt was accused of using Indiana Jones-inspired traps to prevent the government from taking his home in the small town of Williams (pictured)
FBI agents came across a hot tub rigged so that when a gate was opened it would activate a trigger that caused the spa to roll toward the person who opened the gate
After defusing the traps, the FBI agents and the explosive ordnance disposal squad went to the residence.
“They saw a hot tub placed on its side and rigged so that when a gate was opened it would activate a mechanical trigger that caused the spa to roll toward the person who opened the gate,” the U.S. prosecutor’s office said. . for Oregon.
Police compared the scene to one from the movie “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark,” in which Harrison Ford is forced to outrun a giant stone boulder that he accidentally activated by a booby trap switch.
After getting past the hot tub, a bomber and FBI agents approached the property’s manufactured home and blasted open the fortified front door.
Then they came across a rigged wheelchair that Rodvelt had placed in the front entrance of the house and was designed to activate a homemade shotgun.
As the officers entered the house, the wheelchair fired a .410 shotgun shell that hit the unknown FBI bomb technician below the knee.
The officer reportedly shouted “I’ve been hit!” when the blood began to pour from his leg. He was taken to hospital and treated for his leg injury.
And Rodvelt had left more booby traps.
In the garage, officers found a rat trap modified to accept a shotgun shell.
The trap was unloaded, but it was connected to the main garage door so that it would activate when the door was opened.
Rodvelt was also found guilty of using and firing a firearm during and in connection with a violent crime.
He 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 unlawful possession of explosives, but the courts had released him for two weeks so he could prepare for the transfer of the property.
Rodvelt now faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.