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Indiana Jones fan Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 72, is jailed for 12 years for rigging his home with 'intricate and deadly booby traps' after FBI bomb technician was hospitalized

1 year ago 24
  • Gregory Lee Rodvelt trapped his home in Williams, Oregon after he lost his property in a lawsuit. It hospitalized one FBI bomb technician in September 2018
  • One booby trap included a hot tub which set to roll down a hill like the infamous boulder scene from the Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark movie in 1981
  • The 72-year-old was sentenced to 12 and a half years in a federal correctional facility by US District Court Judge Michael J. McShane on Wednesday

By Kamal Sultan For Dailymail.Com

Published: 17:29 GMT, 9 December 2023 | Updated: 17:47 GMT, 9 December 2023

A 72-year-old man from Oregon has been jailed for 12 years after rigging his home with 'intricate and deadly' booby traps inspired by Indiana Jones.  

Gregory Lee Rodvelt armed his home in the small town of Williams after he lost his property in a lawsuit and it hospitalized one FBI bomb technician in September 2018. 

One booby trap included a hot tub which was set to roll down a hill like the infamous boulder scene from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie in 1981.

Rodvelt was found guilty of assaulting a federal officer and using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence on June 2.

He was sentenced to 12 and a half years in a federal correctional facility by US  District Court Judge Michael J. McShane on Wednesday.

Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 72, from Oregon, has been jailed for 12 years after rigging his home with 'intricate and deadly' booby traps inspired by Indiana Jones

One booby trap included a hot tub which was set to roll down a hill like the infamous boulder scene from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie in 1981 

'This individual went through great efforts to set intricate and deadly concealed traps to prevent FBI agents from doing their job,' 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 landed him this sentence.' 

Rodvelt set up the booby traps to keep the government from taking his home. He placed traps like a wheelchair that discharged a shotgun and a hot tub that would roll down a hill when triggered.

A real estate lawyer tasked with selling the property had requested the police after finding a sign warning that the home was 'protected by improvised devices.'

When bomb technicians from Oregon State Police and the FBI arrived at the property, they noticed steel animal traps affixed to a gate post, as well as under the hood of the minivan that was blocking the gate.

Homemade spike strips were also spotted which the attorney had already driven over in the past.  

After disarming the traps, the FBI agents and bomb squad moved towards the residence.

'They observed a hot tub that had been placed on its side and rigged in a manner that when a gate was opened it would activate a mechanical trigger causing the spa to roll toward the person who had opened the gate,' said the U.S. attorney's office for Oregon.

Police compared the scene to one from one Indiana Jones film that sees Harrison Ford forced to outrun a giant stone boulder that he inadvertently triggered by a booby trap switch.

After making it past the hot tub, a bomb squad and FBI agents approached the property's manufactured home and blasted open the fortified front door.

Rodvelt armed his home in the small town of Williams after he lost his property in a lawsuit and it hospitalized one FBI bomb technician in September 2018  

Then they encountered a rigged wheelchair Rodvelt placed in the front entryway of the home designed to trigger a homemade shotgun device.

As the agents entered the home, the wheelchair discharged a .410 shotgun shell that struck the unidentified FBI bomb technician below the knee.

The agent  yelled 'I'm hit!' when blood started gushing 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, agents found a rat trap modified to accept a shotgun shell.

The trap was unloaded but it connected to the main garage door so it would be tripped when the door was opened.

The technicians also found the windows had been secured from inside and there were security doors at both the front and back of the property. 

There appeared to be bullet holes in the front door from shots fired within. 

Investigators said Rodvelt had admitted to setting up the booby traps during an interview. 

'During the interview, Rodvelt stated that he set up fishing line and a tripwire across the property gate that went to a round hot tub that was on its side set to roll down the hill and hit whoever comes through the gate,' agents wrote in the criminal complaint. 

'Rodvelt described it by referencing "the stone rolling down in the Indiana Jones Movie".'

Rodvelt had lost the home 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 courts had released him for two weeks so he could prepare to turn over the property.

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