Cummins commented to both Student 1 and Student 2 that he is a father figure to Beth. “Student 1” wants to confront Cummins, 50, so she brings “Student 2,” another middle schooler, to his classroom, the report says. The high schooler will later describe Student 1 as “freaked out” by the incident, according to the report. Uncomfortable, she leaves the room and finds “Student 3,” a high schooler, to whom she relays what she just saw. “It wasn’t like a make-out kiss, just a peck on the lips,” the middle school student says when she reports it to the administration. Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Thomas begins freshman year, during which she will take a forensics class with Cummins.Īccording to an internal school investigation report, “Student 1” says she walks into Cummins’ classroom to retrieve her bookbag and witnesses Cummins kissing Elizabeth. Maury County Public Schools hires Cummins for a health sciences position at Culleoka Unit School, which houses kindergarten through 12th grade, after he received strong marks during the interview two days earlier.Ĭummins is notified that he has been “renewed” as a teacher.Ĭulleoka Unit School begins the school year. He earned a black belt in Kenpo Karate in 1999, he says. He volunteered in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and in the Panamanian rainforest. “I am a Christian,” he continues on his resume, before reeling off the many capacities in which he’d served at his Columbia church - among them, teen Sunday school teacher and “adult chaperone for youth activities.” The website for one of his bands, Cry for Holiness!, says the group is made up of “5 Dads that God brought together as one collective vessel to use the musical talents He gave us to glorify His precious name and reconcile His children to Him!” He also holds copyrights for 65 songs, most of which he wrote “with my guitar, piano, or behind my congas,” he writes. Under “achievements,” he says he has been a percussionist since the late 1970s and has been in several bands. On his resume, the Mount Pleasant native says he graduated magna cum laude from Columbia State Community College in 1993 with an associate of applied science degree in respiratory care technologies. He had spent the previous four years working as a respiratory therapist at medical services companies in Tennessee. Here’s a timeline of what led up to and transpired during the search:Ĭummins applies for a job with Maury County Public Schools. The two had been missing since March 13, weeks after Cummins was investigated for kissing her in his classroom. Tad Cummins, 50, was in custody, and the student, Elizabeth Thomas, was found safe, authorities said. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.Ī manhunt for a Tennessee high school teacher accused of kidnapping a 15-year-old student ended Thursday in California, 38 days after the girl had been reported missing. On the day Cummins vanished with the girl, he left a note for his wife saying he was leaving for a while to “clear his head.” He took out a $4,500 loan and picked up two prescription refills of Cialis, an erectile dysfunction drug, a criminal complaint states.This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Cummins’ sentence should be 38 years in prison – one year for each day he kept me away from my family.” Tad Cummins is a sick, disgusting criminal. For the last two years, I’ve been picking myself up, piece by piece, and proving to myself that I am much, much stronger than you convinced me I was. You preyed upon a vulnerable girl and robbed her childhood. I don’t know that any words could ever accurately express how much pain I have suffered and continue to suffer because of you. Cummins, what you did to me is unspeakable. They are still an ongoing struggle that I experience one day, and sometimes even one moment, at a time in my life. The effects have been devastating and permanent, and they are not over. “It is very difficult for me to stand here and fully describe the impact that Mr. Here is a portion of her statement, which was eventually read by a prosecutor, according to CNN affiliate WKRN: The girl attended Wednesday’s hearing and broke down in tears when she was called to read her impact statement. They were on the run for 39 days, posing as husband and wife as they traveled some 1,900 miles away from the girl’s hometown of Culleoka, Tennessee. “We feel good about it.”Ĭummins was arrested in April 2017 and the then 15-year-old girl was found safe at a remote cabin in Northern California. “Today we got justice for a brave victim,” Don Cochran, US attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, told reporters outside a Nashville federal courthouse on Wednesday. Tad Cummins, former Tennessee teacher, indicted on federal charges Tad Cummins was charged with kidnapping 15-year old Elizabeth Thomas.
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