Elizabeth Thomas, Tad Cummins Case Update: Former High School Teacher Pleads Guilty to Kidnapping
Former Tennessee high school teacher Tad Cummins pleaded guilty to kidnapping his student Elizabeth Thomas for 38 days and taking her across the country for the purpose of sexually assaulting her.
On Thursday, the 51-year-old former teacher from Culleoka Unit School broke down and cried in front of a US District judge in Nashville as he pleads guilty in the federal charges of transporting a minor across state line for the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual conduct as well as obstruction of justice, based on a release from the US Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Tennessee.
"I cannot be the man I need to be and not tell the truth," Cummins stated. This is very different from his initial not guilty plea to the charges back in May 2017.
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Because of the new plea, US Attorney Don Cochran mentioned in a statement that a lengthy trial has been avoided. "In view of today's development and Mr. Cummins' decision to plead guilty, we are pleased that the victim no longer faces the possibility of enduring a lengthy trial," Cochran stated in the district statement that was posted by Newsweek. "We now look forward to the sentencing of Mr. Cummins and bringing closure to this case," he added.
The statement also mentioned that the sentence could be read sometime in late September. According to the report, the delay might have something to do with the court's schedule since they are short on the number of available district judges while the current ones already have hectic schedules.
The former teacher is now facing a minimum sentence of 10 years behind bars for the charges of crossing state lines to have sex with a minor. He will also have an additional 20 years in prison for the obstruction of justice since he destroyed his and his then-15-year-old student's mobile phones when he took her away from her family from their hometown in Tennessee.
Meanwhile, Thomas' family also released a statement through People regarding Cummins' plan to plead guilty to the charges. "The Thomas family is very relieved that Tad Cummins decided to do the right thing by pleading guilty. We see this as one more step toward justice for Mary Catherine Elizabeth Thomas," the Thomases' family lawyer Jason Whatley said.
The nation got hold of the incident when an Amber Alert was issued by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) for Thomas on March 2017 after she and Cummins disappeared. The teacher was married at that time.
After 38 days on the run, Cummins and Thomas were located in Northern California where they were living in a forest cabin in the woods of Cecilville, California.
Meanwhile, Thomas revealed through an interview with the Columbia Daily Herald after the incident that she never regretted going with Cummins at that time. She also said that it was an event that she had to live with for the rest of her life.
"It's good and bad. It's there. No matter what we do, we'll have to deal with it," the teenager stated.
Thomas has yet to release her own statement regarding the recent turn of events in Cummin's case.
