MEDFORD, Ore. — A 72-year-old man who booby-trapped his southern Oregon home, injuring an FBI agent, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on Wednesday.
Gregory Lee Rodvelt was sentenced to 150 months in federal prison and three years' supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon.
Describing the Williams resident as "fueled by anger and bitterness," Nathan J. Lichvarcik, chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eugene and Medford branch offices, called the sentence a "just punishment for a serious crime."
"(The traps) were no joke," added Kieran L. Ramsey, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Portland Field Office, in a press release. “We are thankful that our agent and other law enforcement officers survived this vicious attempt, and we are thankful for our partners at the U.S. Attorney's Office for their diligent work in bringing justice to this case.”
According to court documents, Rodvelt had lost the home in a lawsuit. After learning that someone had been appointed to take over and sell the property, he littered the house with improvised traps meant to harass or maim interlopers.
On Sept. 7, 2018, bomb technicians from Oregon State Police and the FBI went to the property in order to clear it. They arrived to find a minivan blocking the main gate, with steel animal traps affixed to a gate post and under the van's hood. The property also featured homemade spike strips, which the court-appointed custodian of the property had run over previously.
As the technicians neared Rodvelt's former house, federal prosecutors recounted, they found a hot tub that had been placed on its side and rigged to roll down on whoever opened the gate.
Windows of the house had been barred from the inside, and the only entrances to the home were security doors installed at the front and rear. The front door had what appeared to be bullet holes, prosecutors said, created by shots fired from inside the house.
In a garage, technicians found a rat trap that had been "modified to accept a shotgun shell." While it was unloaded at the time, prosecutors said, it had been connected to the main garage door so it could be tripped when the door opened.
The bomb technicians and two other law enforcement officers resorted to using an explosive charge to breach the home's front door. As they picked their way inside, they found a wheelchair sitting in the front entryway. When the wheelchair was bumped, prosecutors said, it triggered a homemade shotgun device that fired off a .410 shotgun shell.
An FBI bomb technician was hit below the knee by the blast. Officers rendered first aid to the FBI tech and had him taken to the hospital.
Rodvelt was found guilty earlier this year in federal court for assaulting a federal officer and using and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.