Michael Ray McCormick

VALDOSTA — A Mississippi man accused of kidnapping his daughter from a school in Lowndes County has been cleared of all charges, according to his attorney.

Michael Ray McCormick was indicted on charges of kidnapping, criminal attempt to commit a felony, disrupting a public school and three counts of simple battery stemming from incidents on Aug. 14, 2015, when he and a friend picked up his then-5-year-old daughter from Westside Elementary School. The last of the charges in the case was dismissed Monday, said his attorney, Nick Bajalia.

A teacher attempted to stop McCormick from taking the child. Police reports said the teacher was knocked down, which his attorney denies. The teacher called 911 and reported the incident. Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies stopped McCormick and friend David Scott 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.

Stapp was charged with kidnapping, criminal attempt to commit a felony and disrupting a public school, according to court documents.

McCormick was a lieutenant in the Air Force Reserves and has since been promoted to captain, Bajalia said in a statement.

Defense documents claim McCormick and the mother had the child out of wedlock in January 2010 at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss. Both parents had equal rights to the child under Mississippi law.

The child “was in the exclusive custody, care and control of (McCormick) from April 2014 to April 2015 while the natural mother … was voluntarily deployed to Korea,” according to court documents.

In March 2015, McCormick filed a court petition seeking permanent custody of the child. The parents disagreed over the petition. A hearing for McCormick’s custody petition had been scheduled for Aug. 28, 2015.

The mother was reassigned to Moody Air Force Base. She picked up the child from the Cedar Lake Christian Academy in Mississippi, as is her right under Mississippi law, and brought the child to the Valdosta area, according to court documents filed by the defense.

McCormick said he had received advice from officials in Mississippi that he should go to Georgia and get his daughter, Bajalia said.

While in Valdosta, the mother would not tell McCormick where she and their daughter were living or which school the child attended, Bajalia said in a statement.

The felony charges were dismissed in October 2016; the misdemeanor charge of disrupting public school was dropped in April and the three remaining misdemeanor charges, simple battery, were dismissed Monday, his attorney said.