Utah Booby Traps Discovered On Popular Trail

Authorities in Utah stated that two booby traps were discovered along a trail and that one of them had the potential to kill someone, had the trap been triggered, as it incorporated a 20-pound spiked boulder.

The second trap was intended to trip someone into a bed of sharpened wooden stakes.

Utah County sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon stated that two men had been arrested over the weekend on suspicion of reckless endangerment. The two suspects had built a dead-wood shelter which was only accessible through two entrances which were both booby-trapped.

The two suspects told the authorities that the traps were intended for wildlife, however, investigators didn’t buy their story. Cannon was quoted by the AP having said:

“This is a shelter put together by people, visited by people – anything that would be impacted by their device would have to be humans. It took some time to build these traps. They took rope, heavy-duty fishing line, and they intended what the traps were going to do. A lot of people go up there after dark, as well. We’re very very fortunate that it was Officer Schoeffler who found it.”

James Schoeffler is a military trained officer of the U.S. Forest Service whose keen eyes detected the hazardous booby traps as he was trained in hazardous device detection.

Popular hiking spot Provo Canyon, just a few miles from downtown Provo, was the location at which the traps were discovered.

Cannon indicated that authorities were alerted to comments on Facebook regarding the traps and shelter which lead detectives to 19-year-old Benjamin Steven Rutkowski of Orem and 21-year-old Kai Matthew Christensen of Provo. Both suspects were booked in Utah County Jail on Saturday and then released on bail.

While misdemeanor reckless endangerment may seem an inadequate charge for the two troublemakers, prosecutors believed that it was the strongest claim they could pursue without an injury as a result of their actions.