Man sentenced to federal prison for stealing $2 million from VA

Feds: VA purchase card used to buy unauthorized items.

A Fulton County man who stole nearly $2 million worth of medical supplies from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of the full amount.

Kevin Rumph Jr., 41, of Fair- burn was sentenced to two years and three months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Kurt R. Erskine said in a news release. Rumph pleaded guilty to theft charges in August.

Rumph’s charges were related to a scheme that lasted nearly eight years while he was employed as a purchasing agent for the VA, Erskine said. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force who worked at Fort McPherson, Rumph had duties that included reviewing prosthetic request forms and prescriptions, then purchasing a wide variety of prosthetics, sensory aids, medical equipment and more for VA patients.

Provided with a VA purchase card as part of his job, Rumph would use the card to make legitimate purchases but often made unauthorized purchases as well, Erskine said. Rumph would order CPAP devices and supplies used to treat sleep apnea from a vendor in Alabama, then steal the devices and supplies so he could sell them to a different vendor.

According to Erskine, Rumph made hundreds of these purchases between 2013 and 2021, costing the VA nearly $2 million.

“It is disappointing when someone entrusted to help care for our veterans instead steals from them,” Erskine said. “As a veteran, Rumph should have been a compassionate servant, not a thief.”