Teacher pleads guilty in teen girl’s kidnapping

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee teacher who set off a nationwide manhunt last year after he fled with a 15-year-old student broke down in court after pleading guilty to crossing state lines to have sex with a minor.

Former forensics teacher Tad Cummins, 51, also pleaded guilty Thursday to obstruction of justice before U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger in federal court in Nashville.

“I cannot be the man I need to be and not tell the truth,” he said before losing his composure and starting to weep.

Cummins faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison for crossing state lines for sex with a minor. He also faces up to 20 years for obstruction of justice for destroying his and his former student’s cellphones when he fled with her. He will be sentenced later this year.

The victim was in court but did not speak afterward. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Donald Cochran said prosecutors were relieved on her behalf.

“This decision today to plead guilty pleases us in the fact that at this point the victim will no longer have to face a lengthy trial and can go about her life,” spokesman David Boling said.

A federal prosecutor told the court that Cummins engaged in sexual activity with the girl several times in a classroom closet and in a car. They first had intercourse after he took her out of state, according to authorities.

Cummins was married at the time and is a father and grandfather. Since he was jailed, he has called his wife — who filed for divorce after he disappeared — to ask for forgiveness, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Beth Myers told the court.

Cummins disappeared with the girl last March. They were found last April at a remote forest cabin near Cecilville, Calif., after a tip to police.

Cummins taught at Culleoka Unit School in Culleoka, south of Nashville. He was fired a day after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert for the teen.