A deadly booby trap was found on a popular Utah hiking trail last week. One trap involved a trip wire designed to cause a 20-pound, spiked boulder to swing into the unsuspecting hiker.
Another booby trap was built to trip a hiker into a group of sharpened sticks.
Either of these traps could have severely injured or killed a person.
Two men were arrested for misdemeanor reckless endangerment over the weekend. They claim that the traps were for wildlife.
“The booby traps were set at entrances to an elaborate dead-wood shelter built by the suspects that could have caught the attention of children” – Utah County sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon
“The structure was easy to see, Cannon said, but the booby traps could have been overlooked by everyone except a military-trained officer like James Schoeffler of the U.S. Forest Service, who was on a routine patrol along Big Springs Trail last week when he noticed the trip wires.” – AP
These shelters very easily could have attracted children into them with disastrous consequences.
The booby traps were located in Provo Canyon near the city of Provo, Utah. These traps were only a 1/2 mile from the trailhead.
Two men, 19 & 21-years old, have been booked in the Utah County Jail and released on bail. These guys had talked about their traps on facebook and someone alerted the authorities after seeing their posts.
This is the sketchiest thing we’ve heard of happening in the wilderness in a long time… Should the charges be more harsh?