Teacher Who Abducted Student Learns His Fate

Tad Cummins held girl, 15, for more than a month
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 16, 2019 4:07 PM CST
Tad Cummins Learns His Fate
This April 20, 2017, file photo released by the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office shows Tad Cummins.   (Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

Tad Cummins, the former Tennessee teacher who fled with a 15-year-old student in 2017 and held her for more than a month, was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison, NBC News reports. Cummins, 52, pleaded guilty last year to federal crimes of crossing state lines to have sex with a minor and obstruction of justice; he had asked for the minimum sentence of 10 years, arguing that if they had not crossed state lines he likely would only have faced 2 to 4 years, the AP reports.

Prosecutors, however, called for a 30-year sentence, claiming Cummins took advantage of a vulnerable girl who had been neglected and abused. Cummins had already been suspended from his teaching job in February 2017 when another student saw him kissing the victim; the following month, he and the victim disappeared. The teen's father reported her missing. Cummins was fired soon after, and his teaching license was revoked. The pair were found at a cabin in a remote part of California in April 2017. (Cummins' victim was so hungry she resorted to eating flowers while in captivity.)

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