VALDOSTA – A lawyer representing a Mississippi man charged with kidnapping a child from a Lowndes County elementary school in August says his client is a father and decorated war veteran who did not kidnap his daughter and did not push a teacher to the ground during the incident, according to reports from the Valdosta Daily Times.
Michael Ray McCormick was arrested Aug. 14 after he and a friend, David Scott Stapp, flew from Mississippi to Valdosta and picked up McCormick’s 5-year-old daughter from Westside Elementary School. Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office deputies caught up with the men on their way back to the Valdosta/Lowndes Regional Airport. McCormick and Stapp were arrested, and the child was returned to her mother, according to LCSO reports.
McCormick’s lawyer, Nick Bajalia, reportedly told the Valdosta Daily Times news casts and news articles about the incident are inaccurate and contends McCormick never “snatched” the child, never struck or pushed a teacher and was greeted by his daughter before they attempted to leave.
Bajalia said McCormick decided to pick up his daughter from Georgia after receiving legal advice from law enforcement officials in Mississippi.
McCormick has been charged with kidnapping, criminal attempt to commit a felony, disrupting a public school and three counts of simple battery, reports stated. Bajalia has filed court documents to dismiss the counts of kidnapping and the criminal attempt to commit a felony.
McCormick has been out on bond since September.
Read more at The Valdosta Daily Times.
