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Records: Teacher accused of abducting student planned to go to Mexico

The Tennessean

Booking photo for Tad Cummins after his arrest in California on Thursday, April 20, 2017.

NASHVILLE — A former Tennessee teacher planned to take his 15-year-old former student to Mexico before venturing to other countries, and may have had the means to do it, according to new court documents.

"The defendant had plans to attempt to escape across the United States border to Mexico. He then planned to seek passage to countries further south of Mexico," states a document filed Monday in a California federal court about Tad Cummins.

"In furtherance of this plan, the defendant procured a small watercraft and conducted a test run to cross into Mexico across the water from San Diego. The defendant also considered the feasibility of a land crossing into Mexico."

Cummins is charged with kidnapping Elizabeth Thomas in early March, taking her from a restaurant near her home in Columbia, Tenn., and eluding law enforcement for 38 days before they were captured last week in Cecilville, Calif. The new federal court documents also show the 50-year-old Cummins admitted to switching vehicle license plates twice, disabled his vehicle's GPS system, used aliases, altered his appearance, paid only in cash and used back roads during his nearly six weeks on the run.

Griffin Barry, 29, contacted the Siskiyou County (Calif.) Sheriff's Office after seeing a news report and realizing that missing teen Elizabeth Thomas and her teacher Tad Cummins were the ones staying in the cabin. He said he is the property’s caretaker, and the cabin they used is behind him in this photo. Police arrested Cummins on Thursday, April 20, 2017.

Cummins was taken into custody Thursday. The pair arrived in northern California on Tuesday. Cummins had said that he needed work and that they had lost everything in a fire in Colorado and needed a place to stay.

"During his flight, the defendant engaged in a daring cat-and-mouse run from law enforcement in order to further his own prurient desires while engaging in a number of sophisticated maneuvers to avoid being caught. His actions in evasion were criminal," the document states.

"This level of sophistication demonstrates that he cannot be trusted with conditions, or any combination of conditions, of release while awaiting trial in the Middle District of Tennessee."

Federal authorities filed the documentation as a way to argue why they believe Cummins should be held until trial. The judge agreed, according to a news release from the office of Jack Smith, acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

The release states a judge ordered Cummins to remain in custody and be transferred back to Tennessee as soon as possible. If convicted on the federal charge of transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual activity, Cummins faces anywhere from 10 years in prison to a life sentence.

Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund and Stacey Barchenger, The Tennessean; The Associated Press. Follow The Tennessean on Twitter: @Tennessean