‘Indiana Jones’ Fan Jailed After Booby Trapping Home, Sending FBI Agent to Hospital

An Indiana Jones fan brought the franchise to real life with self-made booby traps in his home which sent an FBI bomb technician to the hospital.

Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 72, has been sentenced to jail for 12 and a half years after he created "intricate and deadly" booby traps that were inspired by the Indiana Jones films. The Oregon native was found guilty in court of "assaulting a federal officer" and "discharging a firearm during a crime of violence" by U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. McShane.

The incident took place after Rodvelt lost his home in Williams in an elder abuse lawsuit involving his mother. When an unnamed FBI bomb technician went in, he was hospitalized due to the injuries he sustained from the booby traps. He set up the traps in an attempt to stop the government from taking ownership of his home, some of which were direct homages to the adventurer.

Once a real estate lawyer was assigned to his property and noticed a sign on the property warning that the house was "protected by improvised devices," they called the authorities. The lawyer previously drove over Rodvelt's spike strips. Bomb technicians from the FBI and Oregon State Police arrived and noted that there were animal traps surrounding the home in addition to one inside the hood of a minivan in front of the property's gate.

Rodvelt took a play right from the Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy narrowly escaped death from a giant rolling ball. The 72-year-old created a mechanism that had a hot tub roll down a hill, similar to the infamous boulder scene. He also modified a wheelchair that would discharge a shotgun when someone approached. In this case, the anonymous FBI agent was shot with a .410 shotgun shell below the knee.

"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 stated in court documents. "These were no joke. Mr. Rodvelt knew he was breaking the law and his reprehensible actions are what landed him this sentence."

Those weren't the only traps that Rodvelt set, he also made a rat trap that would discharge a shotgun, among others placed across the property.

In an interview with authorities, Rodvelt stated that his one trap was similar to "the stone rolling down in the Indiana Jones movie."