Employee Pleads Guilty for Stealing Almost $2 Million in medical Equipment

A former Employee of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Fulton County has pled guilty to stealing approximately $2 million in medical equipment. Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Kurt Erskine announced Monday that Kevin Rumph Jr., 41, of Fairburn, pled guilty to theft charges linked to stealing hundreds of medical devices and reselling them between 2013 and 2021.

Rumph used his VA credit card to acquire hundreds of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines, which he stole and resold as a purchasing agent for the VA’s Prosthetic Department. Rumph had been employed by the Veterans Administration at Fort McPherson in southwest Atlanta since 2012, according to Erskine. He approved and purchased a wide range of prosthetics, sensory aids, and other medical equipment on behalf of patients and their healthcare providers as a purchasing agent for the Prosthetic Department.

In addition to those legal purchases, Rumph used his government-issued credit card to acquire CPAP equipment from an Alabama vendor, which he then stole and sold to an Ohio firm, according to Erskine. Certain types of sleep apnea are treated with CPAP equipment. Rumph stole hundreds of devices over the period of around eight years and resold them to the VA, the federal agency in charge of providing health care to the country’s war veterans, for about $2 million.

Erskine said, “As a VA Employee, Rumph’s job was to serve those who served and protected our nation. His greed was a betrayal of trust that deprived veterans of the scarce resources needed by them to live productive lives.” Rumph will be sentenced on Nov. 17 before U.S. District Judge Michael L. Brown after pleading guilty, according to Erskine.