Some people just can’t stay out of trouble—and Christopher Lampkin is one of them.
The 46-year-old career criminal was arrested yet again after a call about a suspicious person running around near Summit Street and Grandview Avenue. When officers arrived, they found Lampkin and quickly discovered he had yet another open warrant.
If this sounds familiar, it should. This is at least the 84th time he’s been booked into jail!
A HISTORY OF MAYHEM
Lampkin’s rap sheet reads like a criminal how-to guide, filled with everything from drug possession and theft to assault and aggravated menacing. Two years ago, police nabbed him for the 73rd time, after a similar call about a man acting strangely near 5th and Lincoln Streets. At that time, he was on parole for drug and theft charges—but that didn’t stop him from racking up at least a dozen more arrests while under state supervision.
THE SYSTEM CAN’T KEEP UP
Despite his staggering number of arrests, Lampkin remains a free man time and time again. Court records even list his current address as homeless, raising serious concerns about the lack of effective rehabilitation and mental health services in the area.
TIMELINE OF A LIFETIME IN COURT
Here’s just a glimpse into Lampkin’s long and chaotic history with the Portsmouth Municipal Court:
🔴 1996 – Receiving stolen property
🔴 1998 – Aggravated menacing
🔴 1999 – Complicity, criminal trespass (x5)
🔴 2000 – Criminal trespass (x2), domestic violence
🔴 2001 – Criminal trespass (x2), trespassing, drug abuse
🔴 2003 – Assault
🔴 2004 – Domestic violence, violating a protection order, forgery, theft
🔴 2006 – Criminal damaging, tampering with evidence, possessing a counterfeit drug, aggravated menacing, receiving stolen property
🔴 2007 – Criminal trespass
🔴 2008 – Domestic violence, violating a TPO
🔴 2009 – Criminal trespass
🔴 2011 – Concealed weapon, drug paraphernalia, criminal trespass, domestic threat, theft (x3)
🔴 2012 – Escape
🔴 2013 – Theft, drug paraphernalia
🔴 2014 – Criminal trespass (x3), drug paraphernalia, aggravated robbery
🔴 2017 – Drug abuse instrument, drug paraphernalia, theft, criminal damaging
🔴 2018 – Drug abuse instrument, drug paraphernalia, criminal trespass, assault (x3)
🔴 2020 – Disorderly conduct, criminal trespass
🔴 2021 – Drug paraphernalia, criminal trespass (x2), drug instruments (x2), disorderly conduct
🔴 2022 – Disorderly conduct (x2)
🔴 2023 – Aggravated menacing, disorderly conduct, tampering with evidence, drug instruments
🔴 2024 – Drug paraphernalia
HOW LONG BEFORE ARREST #85?
With a history like this, one thing is certain—we haven’t seen the last of Christopher Lampkin in handcuffs. But the bigger question remains: why hasn’t the system been able to break the cycle and get this troubled man the help he needs?