Inmate finds gun on side of road while picking up trash

FRANKLIN, Ky. – A Simpson County Detention Center inmate found a gun while picking up trash on the side of the road.

The jail recently resumed its inmate work crew program after being hiatus due to the pandemic.

David Farmer, the inmate who found the rusty gun on the roadside, is getting attention for making the right choice and alerting a deputy jailer to his find.

“I was walking down the street. I was picking up trash, and I glanced over and I seen the gun, and I glanced back just to process it and when I did I set my garbage bag down, and I picked it up and I realized it was an actual real gun and turned it over to my deputy that was over the trash pickup crew and he called KCP and turned it in and followed protocol from there,” said Farmer.

With cleanup crews halted for about a year for COVID-19, officials aren’t sure how long that gun has been there.

Simpson County Jailer Eric Vaughn was stunned when he first heard the news, but quickly became proud of Farmer for doing the right thing.

“First thing was, is everybody OK? Has the weapon been recovered? Is it in my deputy’s possession and not a resident’s possession,” said Vaughn.

“We had a conversation that morning about doing the right thing and as soon as the situation happened, I thought to myself, ‘I need to do the right thing,’” said Farmer.

Farmer and Vaughn have discussed all the “what ifs” of the situation and are both relieved and thankful that the situation turned out to be a positive one.

“I thought to myself, ‘What if it was my kid or my son to find it and them not know that how dangerous it was to have a gun in their possession or obviously an inmate suffering with any kind of depression issues or anything like that. What would have happened?’ So, I am just glad that I was the one that recovered it and turned it in and did the proper thing,” said Farmer.

Vaughn says he is proud of Farmer and will be writing a good review of him as an inmate.

Farmer hopes to get back to his son on the outside soon and is ready to continue doing the right thing.

When asked about the gun, the Franklin Police Department said they are looking into the firearm in connection with recent incidents in the city.

The gun is being sent off to the Kentucky State Police Forensics lab in Frankfort for testing.