![]() ![]() The wife, who works for the Maury County school system, said she had not seen her husband since March 13. age 15, are involved in sexual relationship. ![]() Court records show that Jill Cummins sued her then-missing husband on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct. Tad Cummins bought a small boat and made a test run from San Diego to Mexico after he kidnapped 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas, investigators said. The teacher's wife of 31 years has filed for divorce. The report also recommended that the administration monitor Cummins' classroom to make sure students weren't there when they weren't supposed to be.Ĭummins was fired about a month after being suspended - a day after the TBI issued an Amber Alert about the teen. The report recommended that the girl be taken out of Cummins' class and that he be reprimanded to uphold his professional responsibility. The teacher, however, acknowledged that the girl was "a really good friend and she does leave her other classes to come see him when she needs someone to calm her down," according to a school report dated Jan. The school's investigative files provided to the AP by the attorney show that both Cummins and the girl denied kissing. Culleoka is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Nashville near the Alabama state line. The pair's disappearance March 13 came after Cummins was investigated by the school system when another student reported seeing the then-married teacher kiss the girl at the Culleoka Unit School. If convicted of the federal charge, he faces at least 10 years in prison, acting U.S. "We're anxiously awaiting word on her condition."Ī TBI plane is supposed to fly the girl back home.Ĭummins faces state charges of aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor as well as the federal charges. "The family is absolutely elated beyond words that this part of the ordeal is coming to an end," family attorney Jason Whatley said Thursday evening. He said the family will be patient with her and get her the help she needs. Speaking Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," her father said he thinks she was brainwashed and will need therapy. The girl was apparently healthy and unharmed, and authorities said their main concern was her emotional and mental state. The teacher, police say, surrendered Thursday to sheriff's deputies outside a cabin in a remote northern area of the state after a tip was called into the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that Cummins and the student had taken up residence there for about a week and a half. How they got to Cecilville, California, and why they went there remains a mystery to investigators. The Associated Press is not naming the girl or her family members because she is an alleged victim of a sex crime. "It is believed based on the investigation to date, as set forth herein, that Cummins, age 50, and victim, age 15, are involved in a sexual relationship and traveled in interstate commerce to continue their relationship and to engage in unlawful sexual activity," the criminal complaint against Cummins says. area to clear his head.īut instead of going to the beach, police say he picked up the student in Columbia, Tennessee, in his wife's white Nissan Rogue on the morning of March 13, setting in motion a six-week police manhunt. He had just been suspended from teaching and police were zeroing in on him, questioning his relationship with the girl.Īfter taking out a loan for $4,500, the records say, the teacher took the money and two handguns and wrote a note to his wife saying he needed to go to Virginia Beach or the D.C. (AP) - Teacher Tad Cummins took guns, money and his wife's car before kidnapping a 15-year-old female student and taking her on a 2,500-mile cross-country journey that ended Thursday, court records show. Cummins was fired a day after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert about the teen.COLUMBIA, Tenn. The teacher's wife of 31 years filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct, while Cummins was missing. That lawyer was not available for comment and did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press. The judge appointed Cummins a federal public defender after finding him too poor to pay for a lawyer. Cummins recognized and exploited the victim's vulnerability, the prosecutors said, and "admitted to law enforcement, as well as other witnesses, that he engaged in multiple sex acts with the victim in numerous locations over the 38-day period." The victim's mother has pleaded not guilty to charges involving physically abuse of the girl and her siblings months before the teacher took her away. They called him a danger to the community, saying he abused his position of public trust as the student's teacher. Cummins "did not merely flee with the victim - he took numerous measures to conceal both his and his victim's location throughout the course of his flight across the continent," prosecutors alleged in a court document.
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