October 24, 2012 - A Provo, Utah, man will spend 30 days in jail after he and a friend placed booby traps along a hiking trail. He also must serve 18 months of probation, according to a Salt Lake Tribune report. The man's friend was sentenced last week to spend 20 days in jail and complete a year of probation.
According to court documents, the two men built two traps around a manmade shelter near the Big Springs trailhead in Provo Canyon. One trap was a suspended ball of rocks and sharpened sticks made to swing at face level when a trip line was triggered. A second trip wire was set to cause someone to fall on sharpened sticks protruding from the ground.
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| English: Provo Canyon, Fall 2006. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
A Forest Service officer noticed the traps while patrolling the area.
One of the men's attorney said, "They were just messing around, and it was just a stupid decision. When he realized and thought about it, he went up there and tried to disable the devices but by that time the ranger had taken them down. I don’t think they ever really intended anybody to get caught in the thing. It was more games, capture the flag and military type stuff. Just a couple of boys messing around."
The Forest Service officer said the traps "could cause significant or lethal" injuries, court documents state.
