Sources: Philly cops probing sergeant over surrendered guns

A PHILADELPHIA police sergeant sparked an Internal Affairs probe this month after he showed up at a police district off-duty, handed over three handguns and then refused to cooperate when officers began to ask questions, the Daily News has learned.

Sgt. Brandon Ruff, an eight-year veteran, walked into the 35th Police District, at Broad Street and Champlost Avenue in Ogontz, at 10 p.m. Aug. 3 with three handguns - a 9 mm Taurus, a .38-caliber Taurus revolver, and a Bryco Arms .380 - in a maroon handbag, according to a police incident report.

Ruff handed the guns over to police, saying they belonged to his cousin, a police source said. The off-duty sergeant, who also was carrying his own loaded Glock 23 on his hip, then tried to leave and began "cursing and yelling" at officers when they attempted to stop him, the police report says.

Eventually, officers stopped Ruff and determined that he was an off-duty sergeant, according to police documents. Ruff, who is assigned to the 16th District in Powelton, has been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation into the incident, police sources said.

It's unclear where the guns came from, but police sources said investigators determined that one had been reported missing in 2010 from a house in South Philadelphia. In a report on that lost gun, a 24-year-old man told police he'd gone to retrieve it from where he kept it in his house but discovered it was missing, according to an investigation report obtained by the Daily News.

Ruff last week told NBC10 that he was trying to do the right thing by turning the guns over to the district to get them off the street.

"I was not acting as a police officer at the time," Ruff told the TV station. "I'm just doing this anonymously in good faith."

- Staff writer Dana DiFilippo

contributed to this report.