We know he has made statements to other people about things he has done he had been in communication with his estranged wife, all of those things will be major pieces of evidence against him,” McGuire said. “We don’t know exactly what statements that he has made, we don’t know what statements the young lady has made to investigators. Read: Tad Cummins' Wife Admits Kidnapped Teen Elizabeth Thomas Was Exploited, Brainwashed By Her Husband WKRN's News 2 spoke to local defense attorney Rob McGuire about the case against Cummins. On Thursday, reports said that Cummins was being transferred to Tennessee from California to face charges related to the alleged kidnapping case. He has been charged with kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines with the intention to engage in sexual activity. Elizabeth was reunited with her family, while Cummins was arrested. The 15-year-old former student of Cummins went missing in March and was found in a remote part of northern California, more than a month after her disappearance. The show will focus on Cummins' months on the run and what will happen next to the 50-year-old, who was arrested mid-April. The kidnapping of Tennessee teen Elizabeth Thomas allegedly by his ex-teacher Tad Cummins will be the point of discussion at Friday's 20/20 show. Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office/Handout via REUTERS Trauger was the first judge in the country to use the act to release a prisoner, Tennessee's Matthew Charles, who was released in 2019.Tad Cummins, 50, a former Tennessee high school teacher accused of abducting 15-year-old student Elizabeth Thomas in March, is seen in this booking photo after his arrest by Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Response Team in Cecilville area of Siskiyou County, California, April 20, 2017. The law gives judges more discretion in sentencing offenders for nonviolent crimes, particularly drug offenses, and strengthens rehabilitation programs for former prisoners. The next day, Trauger appointed the Federal Public Defender's Office to determine whether he is eligible for release.Ĭummins' request was made in connection to the 2018 First Step Act, a criminal justice reform law signed by President Donald Trump. The letter was entered into the federal court record on July 15. He suggests he may be able to serve the sentence at his daughter's home. “I believe that my medical issues pose a clear and present danger to my health and my life in the event of a COVID-19 infection and together with my conduct during incarceration constitute 'extraordinary and compelling reasons' to warrant my immediate release or release to serve the balance of my incarceration/sentence in home confinement,” he writes. He also presents a record of good behavior inside the prison since his sentence in the letter, detailing how he has tutored other inmates and that he is an active member of the Christian community there. District Court Judge Aleta Traugher, Cummins cites severe hypertension, obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease as the health problems that put him in a high-risk category for complications of the virus. A Tennessee prison once ranked among the highest outbreaks in the country as the virus moved through the system. In June, as many as 80 federal inmates nationwide had died from the virus, prompting inmates at one Alabama facility to sue the Department of Justice. The pandemic has hit prisons and the criminal justice system hard. He is currently being held in Talladega, Alabama. The Tennessean typically does not name victims of sexual abuse.Ĭummins wrote a letter earlier this month asking that be released to home confinement in light of the spread of the novel coronavirus in prisons across the country. They were found at a commune in Northern California in March 2017. He became the subject of a nationwide manhunt for more than a month after he took a then-15-year-old student across the country. Tad Cummins pleaded guilty in April 2019 to federal charges of transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual conduct and obstruction of justice. A former Maury County teacher who pleaded guilty to charges related to child sexual abuse last April has asked the court to consider a compassionate release due to his risk of contracting COVID-19 in prison.
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