A federal employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs had pleaded guilty to using his government issued credit card to steal nearly $2 million worth of medical equipment.
According to an announcement from the Justice Department, Kevin Rumph, Jr. was a purchasing agent at the VA since 2012 in the agency’s Prosthetic Department in Atlanta. In that position, he received prosthetic request forms and prescriptions and prepared purchase orders for a wide variety of prosthetic and sensory aids devices, medical supplies, and durable medical equipment.
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 which he then stole and sold to a vendor in Ohio.
Between 2013 to 2021, he made hundreds of unauthorized CPAP supply purchases costing the VA in excess of $1.9 million.
“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.”
Sentencing in the case is currently scheduled for November 17, 2021.
