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Posted: 2012-04-23T17:29:04Z | Updated: 2017-12-07T03:00:33Z Booby Traps Set On Hiking Trail; Benjamin Rutkowski, Kai Christensen Arrested In Utah (PHOTOS) | HuffPost

Booby Traps Set On Hiking Trail; Benjamin Rutkowski, Kai Christensen Arrested In Utah (PHOTOS)

Deadly Booby Traps Found On Hiking Trail
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Two Utah men were arrested after they allegedly set potentially deadly booby traps on a popular hiking trail.

Benjamin Rutkowski, 19, and Kai Christensen, 21, allegedly built several elaborate devices, including a swinging ball of spiked sticks surrounding a 20-pound rock, and small pits of spikes hidden along the trail in South Fork Canyon near Provo, according to KSDK.

Both traps were rigged with tripwires.

"That would kill people, easily," hiker Emily Hammerstad told Fox 13. "It's just awful and sickening that people would do that kind of thing."

A U.S. Forest Service Officer -- who luckily had previous military training in finding similar devices -- found the traps on April 16, and arrested the two men after they allegedly posted about the traps on their Facebook pages.

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Cops said Rutkowski and Christensen admitted to their crimes on Saturday, according to Fox13. They were charged with reckless endangerment, but would have been slapped with felonies had anyone been hurt, the New York Daily News reported.

There are miles of heavily frequented trails in the South Fork Canyon area, popular with bikers and hikers.

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