Abington Teacher Charged with Sexual Misconduct Out on Bail & Had Past Arrests for Assault & Terroristic Threats

The Abington teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student is out on bail. Thomas Kummer posted his $250,000 bail Wednesday. He’s been ordered to have no contact with the student or any unsupervised contact with people under the age of 18.

Letter to Parents from Abington School District from 10/3/18

Fifty-five-year-old Thomas Kummer of Willow Grove is facing five felony charges including corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor, photographing, filming, or depicting a sexual act on a computer, endangering the welfare of a child, and institutional sexual assault of a minor. Upper Moreland Police also charged Kummer with various drug-related offenses after finding marijuana in his home during a search Sunday night, investigators said.

According to 6ABC investigators found the offense allegedly started while the two were part of a field trip to Italy over the summer with Kummer as a chaperone. Abington Police say there were 290 pages worth of text messages between the two that were “romantic in nature.”

Police released some of those alleged text messages in an affidavit of possible cause. Text messages released included:

“I think you should move in with me,” and, “I miss you, I love you.”
“I always have two emergency tickets to the Caribbean. I want to be on a plane with you.”

6ABC reported that compromising photos of the minor were found in the evidence. Kummer became concerned when he hadn’t heard from the student over the last several days.

The Abington Township Police were tipped off about a possible relationship between Kummer and the student last week. Police notified the girl’s mother and examined the girl’s computer, according to officials.

He allegedly reestablished contact on Sunday, September 30. The affidavit suggests a growing sense of panic as he became aware of the investigation and allegedly sent the the following text messages:

“You need to delete everything,” Kummer allegedly texted the girl.
“I’m thinking should I run now. Like, I’m afraid to go to school on Monday. I’m completely freaked out,” one message reads.

This is not the first time Kummer has had a run-in with the law. According to court documents in March of 2000, he was charged with terroristic threats, simple assault as well as a summary offense of harassment after an incident at his wife’s house. According to a criminal docket Kummer successfully completed the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program and was never convicted of any of those offenses.

A spokesperson for the Abington School District told NBC10 that under state law in 2000, Kummer was not required to report those types of criminal offenses and the district had no knowledge of it. The spokesperson said the district learned about the initial charges against Kummer in November of 2015, about a decade and a half later.

“In the absence of a reasonable belief that an employee was arrested or convicted for an offense required to be reported under the School Code, the District had no right to compel its employees to allow the District to obtain updated background checks,” the spokesperson wrote.