Third suspect added to school kidnapping case

Published 3:24 pm Friday, April 8, 2016

VALDOSTA — A new suspect has been added to a case alleging a decorated war veteran kidnapped his daughter from a Lowndes County school last year.

A Lowndes County grand jury has indicted Michael Ray McCormick, David Scott Stapp and Allison Vega in the Aug. 14, 2015 case where McCormick picked up his then-5-year-old daughter from Westside Elementary School.

The grand jury indicted all three defendants on charges of kidnapping and criminal attempt to commit a felony; McCormick and Stapp were indicted on a charge of disrupting public school; and McCormick was indicted on three counts of simple battery, according to court records.

McCormick and Stapp were originally indicted on similar charges last fall. The case returned to the grand jury to add Vega to the indictment.

The indictment is not clear what role Vega reportedly played in the case, though no initial police reports have included a woman with the two men during the incident last August.

The men reportedly arrived at the school unannounced to pick up McCormick’s daughter from the Valdosta-area school and take her to Mississippi, according to initial reports.

A teacher attempted to stop McCormick from taking the child. Police reports have claimed the teacher was knocked down. The teacher called 911 and reported the incident.

Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies stopped McCormick and Stapp as they drove to Valdosta Regional Airport where a plane awaited to take them and the 5-year-old to their home in Biloxi, Miss.

Nick Bajalia, McCormick’s attorney, said in a past interview his client is simply a father — a decorated war veteran — who was trying to take his daughter home and that he never pushed an elementary school teacher.

In court documents, the defense contends:

• McCormick never “snatched” his daughter from the school yard. He arrived at the school to pick her up, was greeted by his daughter and attempted to leave.

• He never struck nor pushed the teacher. He showed the teacher his daughter’s birth certificate, which includes McCormick’s name as the father. Holding his daughter, McCormick spun away from the teacher but he did not shove or push her down.

• Though never married to the child’s mother, McCormick is the “natural father” of the child, accepted through an Acknowledgment of Paternity at the time of birth in Mississippi. Under Mississippi law, both the natural father and mother have equal rights, according to court documents “until a custody order is entered.” A custody order had yet to be established at the time of McCormick’s arrest in Georgia.

• McCormick and Stapp were not trying to execute an elaborate kidnapping plan. They were simply trying to take his daughter home. Stapp is not represented by Bajalia.

McCormick has been free on bond since September.

Since released on bond, McCormick has been promoted to captain in the Air Force Reserves. He was a lieutenant at the time of the incident.

He is trained as a C130J pilot, serving as a tactical aircraft commander pilot, a combat control instructor and a combat controller.

He served multiple tours of combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004-2008. His military commendations include Air Force Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with Valor, Air Force Combat Action Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Bronze Star with Valor, Air Medal.