An Oregon jury convicted a man for crimes committed in 2018. The crime involved booby-trapping a house, which resulted in slashing an FBI agent with one of the devices.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office District Oregon, Gregory Lee Rodvelt, a 71-year-old man named Gregory Lee Rodvelt has been found guilty of assaulting and discharging firearms during and in connection with a violent crime.
In court documents, it was stated that the Oregon State Police and FBI found homemade traps in September 2018 when they visited a property that Rodvelt had owned but lost in a legal dispute. Rodvelt reportedly installed booby traps to make Macaulay Culkin, the star of “Home Alone”, proud when he learned that a receiver was appointed to take care of the seized property.
A minivan first blocked the gate to the house. FBI bomb technicians found animal traps attached to the gate post and under the hood. Also found were homemade spike strips that had been previously run over by the receiver.
The FBI agents saw the hot tub placed on its side as they approached the house. The luxury whirlpool had been rigged to move toward the person opening the gate when the gate opened. The Washington Post reported that it was “similar to a scene in the movie Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark” in which Harrison Ford has to run from a huge stone boulder that is accidentally triggered by a switch.
Agents found in the garage a modified rat trap that was designed to take a shotgun round. The trap was attached to the garage door, so it would fire when the door opened.
The front door also appeared to have bullets from the shots fired inside. The wheelchair was found in the middle of the entranceway after technicians used explosives to breach the front door. The wheelchair triggered a homemade shotgun that fired a.410 caliber bullet below the knee of an FBI bomb technician when it was bumped.
The Oregon man could face up to 20 years in federal prison if he is found guilty of assaulting a federal agent with a deadly weapon or dangerous weapon. He may also be sentenced to life imprisonment if he uses and discharges a firearm in the course of committing a violent crime.
