Georgia Veterans Affairs Employee Pleads Guilty to Medical Equipment Theft

ATLANTA (September 7, 2021)—In mid-August, the United States’ Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that Kevin Rumph, Jr., 41, of Fairburn, Georgia, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of medical products. Rumph used his U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) issued credit card to buy over $1.9 million worth of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) equipment, which he stole and then sold.

“As a VA employee, Rumph’s job was to serve those who served and protected our nation,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “His greed was a betrayal of trust that deprived veterans of the scarce resources needed by them to live productive lives.”

“The defendant’s deceitful actions breached the public trust, undermined the integrity of VA’s health care operations, and tarnished the important work that honest VA employees do every day in support of our nation’s veterans,” said David Spilker, Special Agent in Charge at the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG). “The VA OIG thanks the VA medical center for referring this matter and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for its partnership in holding the defendant accountable for his unlawful conduct.”

According to Erskine, the charges and other information presented in court: Kevin Rumph, Jr., was a purchasing agent employed by the VA. He had been employed there since 2012. He worked in the VA’s prosthetic department at its community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC) located in Fort McPherson, Atlanta, Georgia.

Rumph’s job duties included receiving prosthetic request forms and prescriptions from physicians, therapists, patients, and patient representatives, and reviewing those forms for proper documentation and justification of the items, services and durable medical equipment being requested. Rumph prepared purchase orders for a wide variety of prosthetic and sensory aids devices, medical supplies and durable medical equipment and coordinated the delivery of medical equipment and supplies through contracted providers utilizing his VA-issued purchase card.

In addition to his legitimate purchases for veterans’ health care needs, Rumph used his government-issued purchase card to make unauthorized purchases of CPAP supplies from a supplier in Alabama. He then stole and sold the CPAP supplies to a vendor located in Ohio. CPAP supplies are medical products used to treat obstructive sleep apnea.

Between 2013 to 2021, Rumph made hundreds of unauthorized CPAP supply purchases costing the VA more than $1.9 million.

This case is being investigated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Huber, Deputy Chief of the Complex Frauds Section, is prosecuting the case.