Former Ohio cop sentenced to five years on gun conviction

Kevin Lumpkin, 29, was a North Randall police officer when he sold guns to felons. (Photo: FBI)

A former policeman in the Cleveland-area was sentenced to five years in prison for selling guns to felons, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Kevin Lumpkin, 29, of North Olmsted, Ohio, was arrested last year for selling a Hi-Point .45-caliber carbine and a Ruger .380 pistol on different occasions to people he knew to be convicted felons.

According to court documents, Lumpkin sold the guns to the individuals, who remain nameless, between 2011 and 2013, when he was an officer with the North Randall Police Department.

Investigators said Lumpkin installed a security camera at the felons’ home in 2012 after one of them was shot when robbers broke into their house. At that time, Lumpkin also supplied them with a catalog of firearms to browse.

With Lumpkin’s help, the pair collected handguns, rifles, a short-barreled shotgun, and a bulletproof vest, the complaint said.

However, in that same year a dispute with the felons led to Lumpkin, while in uniform, firing a round from his service weapon inside the home, the complaint said. The round struck a wall in the basement and was never repaired.

In 2013, Cleveland police responded to a domestic violence dispute in which they searched the home and recovered several firearms and boxes to firearms. Authorities traced serial numbers on the guns and learned that Lumpkin was the original buyer.

A year later police in the neighboring town of Solon recovered a handgun with a serial number matching one of the boxes found at the home. Officers took the gun off of a suspect who had an outstanding warrant.

Lumpkin told investigators that he had known the two felons since 2006 and would play video games in their basement, but had not talked to them in three years. He also admitted to buying firearms that were recovered at their home but believed the guns had been stolen from him even though he never reported them stolen or missing.

When investigators showed him a picture of the wall with a bullet hole in it, he said he recognized the location, but when asked how the bullet hole got there, he replied, “Why would I say that?”

When they asked Lumpkin to be honest about the circumstances surrounding the bullet hole, he said, “What does being honest get me?”