Oregon Man Convicted of Assaulting FBI Agent with ‘Indiana Jones’ Inspired Booby Trap
Gregory Lee Rodvelt set up a hot-tub designed to roll down an incline in an homage to iconic boulder chase in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.
This week, Oregon Man is giving Florida Man some competition for headline-grabbing antics.
An Oregon man who bizarrely rigged the home he lost in a lawsuit with an “Indiana Jones” inspired booby trap and other hazards — which hospitalized a federal agent — was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday.
Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 71, rigged the home as a form of retaliation upon learning that the state had appointed an attorney to sell off his property in Williams, Oregon — over 200 miles south of Portland near the California border, according to a statement released by the US Attorney’s office for Oregon.
Rodvelt, who was serving time for a separate incident in an Arizona state prison, revealed to the FBI ahead of the raid that “fishing line and a tripwire” were strategically placed “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,” according to NBC.
The situation began after a real estate lawyer tasked with selling the property contacted police after finding a sign warning that the home was ‘protected by improvised devices.’ After entering, law enforcement officials discovered the set-up, which was likened to the infamous bolder scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.
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.
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 the film ‘Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark’ that sees Harrison Ford forced to outrun a giant stone boulder that he inadvertently triggered by a booby trap switch.
A shot-gun rigged wheelchair was the device that injured the FBI agent.
An FBI special agent and three state police bomb technicians then approached the manufactured house – blasting open the fortified front door – but never making it past an empty wheelchair that was outfitted to stop anyone who moved it.
According to officials, the wheelchair was outfitted with a fishing line, shotgun ammunition, and other items that, when pushed, triggered an explosion. An X-ray revealed that a .410-gauge shotgun pellet hit the agent’s leg.
Rodvelt will be sentenced at another court appearance.
Rodvelt faces up to 20 years behind bars when he’s sentenced, prosecutors said.
“That’s an unrealistic maximum” sentence, defense attorney Benjamin Kim said Wednesday.
Kim declined to comment further.
The response to this story in social media has been fascinating. The FBI may wish to consider readjusting its investigation priorities, based on many of comments on this story.
That man is a hero. More of this needs to be done. Any government agency needs the same when they trespass on our property.
— Jay (@JamesWallace04) June 9, 2023
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Comments
The Stasi will bury you so deep Syberia will look good. YOU attacked one of your own. Not smart dude.
I’m all broken up about a traitorous fed getting hurt.
Your evidence that the bomb technician is a traitor?
“…based on comments”
Comments are the political pulse of society. Everyone gets to express an opinion until it runs counter to the author.
If I am called up for ANY jury duty and the prosecutor’s case includes ANY evidence by an FBI agent, I am voting to acquit.
They have zero credibility left as an organization.
Well, then don’t say that online.
Law enfarcement, LEOs, and others know the names and addresses of jurors. “Wrong” vote or hanging the jury, you will be crushed.
Even if that FBI agent is merely a bomb technician helping out the local police with a criminal asshole and there is plenty of other evidence to corroborate their testimony? How honorable.
If only he’d sold the home “as is” …
I don’t know why you included a clip of a boulder chasing Indiana Jones out of a cave. Seen it a million times. The clip I want to see is the one of a hot tub chasing a fat fed out of a gate.
“When authorities reached Rodvelt’s lost home, they observed “bullet holes from shots fired inside” on the front door”
Get current in your training. It’s called the “Biden Drill.” It’s all the rage.
Gotta give props to those 70+ year old guys impoverished by state forfeiture, for whom “life in prison” is pretty much a meaningless threat anymore.
Can you imagine how mortifying it would have been to be injured by the hot tub? They gonna have to tell your family you got wrecked by some WillE Coyote BS?
It would be even better if it’s an Acme hot tub.
Where did you read that this was a state forfeiture? The only thing I could find is that he was sued by his mother for elder abuse and she was awarded $3 million.
I was just pondering today whether there is any parts of the FBI that are worth saving or is it totally the FSB / KGB at this point.
I don’t think any LI commenter is too keen about cheering on anarchy and lawlessness. It’s sad that the FBI has lost the trust of a huge segment of Americans who love this country.
Constitutionally, the FBI is an entirely illegitimate organization.
The founders gave the fedguv no police powers. They were quite clear about that.
Therefore, any “good” remnant of the FBI is still bad.
The founders said how federal law should be enforced, but apparently nobody ever actually TRIED it, or gave it the effort and resources it needed to work properly.
It’s past time we did. Every time we screw up the country, we discover that the founders’ own prescriptions were way more on the ball than whatever the swamp of the time ‘just made up” later to replace them.
It’s sad that a huge segment of Americans refuse to make any distinction between a bomb technician helping out local police and those involved with politically driven (lack of) prosecution.
This is not the FBI of J.E. “Cross-dresser” Hoover. It’s not even the FBI of Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. This is a pack of utterly incompetent jack-booted thugs.
They were WARNED that the house was booby-trapped, and STILL managed to get one of their “bomb squad” people wounded by stumbling into a shotgun triggered by a fishing line trip wire. Apparently their supply of “silly string” ran out when they played with spraying it on each other.
Why was the state selling his property in the first place? Because he’d been in prison and therefore had no income to pay property tax?
Seems a stupid way to help out an ex-con by making him homeless.
Rodvelt was sued by his mother for elder abuse. She won $3 million dollars and he was forced to sell the home to pay it.
He also wasn’t an ex-con. He was in prison for threatening someone with a weapon and was temporarily released so he could move his stuff out prior to the sale. Instead he booby-trapped it.