Tad Cummins, the former teacher accused of abducting a teenage student from Tennessee and taking her to California, was indicted Thursday on two federal charges.
Court documents said Cummins was indicted on a charge of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activities, which has a maximum sentence of life in prison; and a second charge of destruction, alteration or falsification of records in a federal investigation, which has a maximum sentence of 20 years.
The second charge is related to his alleged destruction of two phones to impede the investigation, court documents said.
Each count is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000.
Cummins, 50, and the 15-year-old girl went missing March 13 from Columbia, Tennessee, sparking a nationwide search.
He had been suspended in February from the local high school after a student reported seeing him and the teenage girl kissing in a classroom, authorities said.
They traveled cross-country and were found April 20 at a remote cabin in Northern California, where they'd been posing as husband and wife.
Cummins also faces state charges of sexual contact with a minor and aggravated kidnapping, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said last month.
He has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.
Sick man.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sick story- made even worse by the reaction of his own family(wife) etc.... she kept giving interviews saying"this just isn't like him,never had any indication"... c'mon. How mant times did she likely find him on his laptop looking at something- inappropriate?
ReplyDeleteThat's an awfully big assumption to make based on...absolutely nothing, as far as I can tell.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious - do you believe that a 15-year-old should, for example, be held accountable for murder? And if so, does it still hold for you that a 15-year-old absolutely cannot decide to have sex?