Prosecutor: Teenager picked wrong transvestite prostitute to rob

Kimball Perry

Enquirer

October 26, 2010

Sixteen-year-old Rufus Bowman was looking for an easy victim, but he picked the wrong one during a July 13 incident.

Bowman was in the 200 block of West McMicken Avenue in Over-the-Rhine when, Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Ryan Nelson said, he approached Joshua Bumpus.

"Mr. Bumpus is a transvestite prostitute," Nelson said. "He goes 6-(foot)-3, 280 (pounds) and was wearing a pink halter top and pumps."

Actually, jail records list Bumpus as 6-foot-1, 290 pounds.

"(Bowman) approached Mr. Bumpus and, according to Mr. Bumpus, was trying to retain his services," Nelson said.

The two men went into a nearby alley to transact business, Nelson said, when Bowman pulled a gun.

The two men fought. The 5-foot-7, 230-pound Bowman fired his gun. The bullet hit Bumpus in the arm, went through and lodged near his ribs.

Even though he was shot, Bumpus continued fighting - and won.

"He got the gun away from (Bowman), he grabbed (Bowman) by the hair and beat him down. He beat the (daylights) out of him," Nelson said.

That's about when several of Bumpus' friends, also dressed as women, flagged down Cincinnati Police Officer Dave Kennedy. Other Bumpus friends helped Bumpus beat Bowman.

"The cops showed up during the beat down," Nelson said. "The cops said it was one of their more memorable arrests of their lives."

Bowman's case was deemed serious enough to be heard in adult court. He initially was charged with felonious assault and having a gun while under a criminal disability because he was convicted in February 2009 for possession of drugs, a crime that legally barred him from carrying a gun.

In a Tuesday plea deal, Bowman pleaded guilty to felonious assault. Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman sent Bowman to prison for three years.

"(Bowman) picked the wrong prostitute to rob," Nelson said.

Rufus Bowman

   
Joshua Bumpus