A federal jury has convicted Gregory Lee Rodvelt, a 71-year-old man, of assaulting a federal officer and discharging a firearm about a crime of violence.
The charges stem from an incident in 2018 when Rodvelt injured an FBI agent by rigging his wheelchair to fire ammunition at anyone who attempted to move it. The agent was shot in the leg and taken to the local hospital for medical attention. The incident occurred when police officers went to the home of 66-year-old Gregory Rodvelt in the small town of Williams on Sept. 7, 2018, at the request of a real estate lawyer selling the property.
According to reports, officers slipped past a minivan outfitted with spring-loaded jaws of animal snares. They walked around a circular hot tub turned on its side that was rigged to roll over any trespasser who triggered a tripwire.
An FBI special agent and three state police bomb technicians approached the manufactured house but never made it past an empty wheelchair outfitted to stop anyone who moved it. The wheelchair was rigged with a fishing line, shotgun ammunition, and other items that, when pushed, triggered an explosion. An X-ray revealed that a .410-gauge shotgun pellet hit the agent's leg.
The complaint against Rodvelt stated that the scene was "much like a scene from the movie 'Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark' in which actor Harrison Ford is forced to outrun a giant stone boulder that he inadvertently triggered by a booby trap switch."
According to the U.S. District Attorney's Office, Rodvelt's sentencing will be determined by U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane at a later date. The office stated, "Assaulting a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. Using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence is punishable by up to life in federal prison."
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