Jury convicts Oregon man who rigged home with 'Indiana Jones' booby trap injuring FBI agent
Topics: US News, Crime, Weird, Indiana Jones
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Police / Paramount
Topics: US News, Crime, Weird, Indiana Jones
A man from Oregon has been convicted after rigging up his property with a series of Indiana Jones style booby traps.
Modern home security has a cornucopia of options available to the cautious, nervous, or downright paranoid homeowners.
You can choose between CCTV systems, electric gates, Ring Doorbells, or even barbed wire if you're intent on turning your home into Fort Knox.
One TikToker even jokingly rigged up their Amazon Alexa to respond to the command 'intruder alert' by turning all the lights red, playing a siren and the music from the video game Doom while the electric shutters ominously close and a voice says 'chemical compound ready', followed by 'releasing the roombas'.
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However, one man from Oregon decided that he prefers more old school and effective ways of deterring unwanted visitors to his property.
Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 71, decided against the psychological technique with Alexa and instead opted for a good old-fashioned booby trap, which he described as reminiscent of Indiana Jones.
And yes, it is the one you're thinking of.
Rodvelt had previously lost possession of his property in a lawsuit. Bomb specialists from the FBI were later dispatched to inspect the property after Rodvelt was arrested in 2017 on suspicion of possessing explosives.
FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Gray wrote an affidavit, or written statement made under oath, which detailed the both whacky and dangerous devices that Rodvelt had installed in his former home.
The affidavit read: "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.
"Rodvelt described it by referencing the 'stone rolling down in the Indiana Jones Movie'."
As if that wasn't enough, Rodvelt had also set up other traps in the house.
The affidavit said: "Rodvelt also talked of other tripwires on the property and a spike strip made of nails and wood which was designed to flatten tires. Rodvelt did not provide additional specifics about the tripwires."
Rodvelt was convicted due to the effectiveness of a third trap with had been set up in the property. Officers entered the house using explosives to breach the door, and upon entering they came upon a wheelchair.
When the wheelchair was 'bumped', it "triggered a homemade shotgun device that discharged a .410 shotgun shell that struck the FBI bomb technician below the knee", according to the US Attorney General's Office.
The agent was subsequently rushed to hospital where he received treatment for the injury and was discharged.
Prosecutors have said that Rodvelt could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, though defense attorney Benjamin Kim has called this maximum 'unrealistic'.