Long gets 8-20 in UD woman’s homicide

BY ROBERT L. BAKER

Wyoming County Press Examiner

A 29-year-old Tunkhannock man was sentenced Friday to 8-20 years in state prison for voluntary manslaughter when he pulled the trigger that resulted in the death of a Susquehanna County woman in a drug deal gone bad in September.

Jesse John Long also faces a $2,500 fine and $11,135 in restitution to the family of Nicole Lindsay Gumpper, 23, of Uniondale, who was shot Sept. 10, and died the next day.

Senior Judge Kenneth Seamans issued the sentence after both Gumpper’s sister and father gave emotional testimony about the family’s loss.

David Gumpper said it was sad that the incident took place on September 11 when others chose to be a menace to society much as he had.
Gumpper said that he, early in life, adopted a solid work ethic where he taught his children the importance of responsibility and believed it would lead to good things.

“No one should have to be faced with this,” Gumpper said holding back tears.

He added that he hoped whatever sentence Long got matched the torment that his family has felt the past six months.

Judge Seamans spoke about the case being the extreme result of opioid abuse in our culture, and the consequence of leaving a family torn apart.

Long faced eight felony charges when the original case was filed by Trooper Karri L. Dodson, but the other charges will not be prosecuted,

Wyoming County District Attorney Jeff Mitchell said
another man, David Bohner, originally was charged with attempted homicide because he was driving the vehicle from which Long fired his gun.

That charge was dropped in December, because there was no evidence that Bohner had prior knowledge that Long was going to fire a gun.

Bohner pleaded guilty to a single felony drug possession charge and was sentenced on Jan. 10, to nine months to nearly two years in prison.

Gumpper and her boyfriend, Dominic Pease, bought drugs from Long and Bohner at the Rivercrest Housing Development in Tunkhannock Twp., according to court records.

Believing they were shorted, Pease, driving a U-Haul van, followed a 2013 Hyundai Sonata operated by Bohner, out of the development onto Route 92 South, headed to Falls.

Police said Long fired several rounds from a handgun at the U-Haul van. One of the rounds penetrated the windshield of the van and struck Gumpper in the head.