Southern Oregon booby-trapper sentenced to 150 months for injuring federal officer
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Southern Oregon man whose booby-trapped home injured a federal officer has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
In 2018, AP News reported that 72-year-old Gregory Lee Rodvelt was ordered to forfeit his home due to an elder abuse case in 2018. That September, bomb technicians with the FBI and Oregon State Police arrived at his residence and were met with numerous booby traps that had been installed by the former Williams resident.
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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the federal officers saw a minivan blocking a gate outside of the house, multiple steel animal traps and several home-made spike strips. They also found a hot tub that had been placed sideways so it would roll forward whenever someone opened the gate.
The technicians additionally noticed windows that had been locked from the inside of the home, as well as security doors on two entrances. Officials said the front entrance appeared to have bullet holes from shots that were fired from inside the residence. In the garage, officers found a rat trap that had been rigged to fire a shotgun shell when the garage door opened.
The Attorney’s Office reported that the bomb technicians and two other officers used an explosive charge to breach the front entrance. Once they entered, someone bumped into a wheelchair in the middle of the hallway and triggered a homemade shotgun with a .410 shell.
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The homemade device injured an FBI bomb technician, who received first aid from other officers before being transported to a nearby hospital.
Rodvelt was found guilty in June of this year when a federal jury in Medford convicted him of assaulting a federal officer. Wednesday, the former Williams resident was sentenced to 150 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
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“This individual went through great efforts to set intricate and deadly concealed traps to prevent FBI agents from doing their job,” FBI Portland Special Agent in Charge Kieran L. Ramsey said in a statement. “These were no joke. Mr. Rodvelt knew he was breaking the law and his reprehensible actions are what landed him this sentence.
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