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Tennessee teacher planned to take 15-year-old girl to Mexico

Tad Cummins/Photo: Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Court documents say a Tennessee teacher charged with kidnapping a 15-year-old student and driving her to California had planned to take the girl to Mexico and took a boat from San Diego on a test run.

Authorities credit the caretaker of a remote northern California property for helping police find her Thursday and arrest her alleged abductor, fired teacher Tad Cummins. She has returned home.

Federal court documents filed Monday show the 50-year-old Cummins switched 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.

The Associated Press is not naming the girl or her family members because she is an alleged victim of a sex crime.