Feds Detail Tad Cummins Allegations

NASHVILLE, TN — A federal criminal complaint filed Thursday against ex-teacher and alleged kidnapper Tad Cummins, 50, offers some detail about his cross-country escapade with Elizabeth Thomas, his 15-year-old former student at Culleoka Unit School. Cummins was arrested Thursday morning outside a cabin in northern California.

According to an affidavit filed by Maury County Sheriff's Department Detective Jonathan R. Hardison, on March 13, Cummins told his wife was going to a job interview at the Williamson County Medical Center. The hospital said no interview had been scheduled. That night, Cummins' wife found a note from her husband that said he was going to the Washington, D.C. area or Virginia Beach to "clear his head" and urged her not to call police. She did not contact law enforcement.

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That morning, a friend dropped Thomas off at a Shoney's in Columbia and Cummins' Nissan Rogue was spotted on surveillance footage at a nearby gas station around the same time, according to the detective.

After Thomas' father filed a missing-child report and told investigators he feared his daughter was with Cummins, detectives subpoenaed Cummins' financial records and learned that Cummins had taken out a $4,500 loan against his car. According to his wife, that money was missing, along with clothes, toiletries and two handguns.

Cummins' wife also said that her husband had been prescribed erectile-dysfunction medication Cialis and had obtained a seven-pill refill a few days prior to the disappearance.

The detective said that employees of Super 8 Motels and its corporate parent determined that Cummins had checked into two Oklahoma Super 8 locations, using his real name both times and both times renting a room with a single queen-sized bed.

The affidavit also alleges that Cummins purchased women's razors, chocolate, cheese cubes and KY Jelly at an Oklahoma Walmart.

Cummins faces federal charges of transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of criminal sexual intercourse in addition to state charges of kidnapping and unlawful sexual contact with a minor. He is being held in a Siskiyou County, Calif. jail awaiting extradition.

Image via TBI