URBANA - A former University Laboratory High School assistant track coach convicted of inappropriate sexual conduct with a female student apparently wants a pardon from Gov. Patrick Quinn.

But Yuri Ermakov hasn't served even a day of the 12-year prison sentence he received almost two years ago in Champaign County Circuit Court.

Ermakov, now 26, who last lived in the 1000 block of Colorado Avenue in Urbana, was convicted by a jury in July 2007 of criminal sexual assault for having sex with a 15-year-old girl, and contributing to the deliquency of a child for supplying alcohol to two 16-year-old girls.

All were students at Uni High School, where Ermakov was employed between 2004 and 2006. The acts of which he was convicted occurred in the fall of 2005 and the spring of 2006.

Between the time the jury retired to deliberate and when it reached its verdict a few hours later, Ermakov hit the road. It's believed he's in Russia, where he's a citizen.

Champaign County court personnel received a communication Monday from Chicago attorney Tamara Holder, asking for transcripts of Ermakov's trial in order to file for a governor's pardon.

Contacted Wednesday, Holder said she couldn't confirm the request nor could she say where Ermakov is, citing attorney-client privilege.

"I am an attorney for the family," she said, adding she would ask the family if they would allow her to comment on Ermakov's case.

University of Illinois police Lt. Roy Acree, whose detectives investigated the allegations against Ermakov, said the last he knew, Ermakov was in Russia.

"We couldn't do much with it. We were not going to get on a plane to go to Moscow. We hoped he would just show up in the U.S. As far as we know, he hasn't done that," Acree said.

Assistant State's Attorney Troy Lozar, who prosecuted Ermakov, said he had received a call from a Chicago lawyer some time ago about the case so he was aware there was someone working on Ermakov's behalf.

"I think his request for a pardon would carry a lot more weight if he ever showed up to address his sentence," Lozar said, adding the Federal Bureau of Investigations believes him to be in Russia.

"He's just not extraditable," Lozar said.

Ermakov's case was impressionable for most courthouse veterans in that he showed up month after month for court hearings between the time the charges were filed against him in March 2006 and the time of his trial in July 2007. He was even present for the entire four days of the jury trial before Judge Jeff Ford.

But when the jury went to the jury room, Ermakov apparently headed out of town. Ford had instructed him to be within five minutes of the courthouse so he could get back quickly in case the jury had questions or verdicts. When the jury announced it had verdicts at about 2:30 p.m. on July 12, Ermakov's attorney, Carol Dison of Urbana, contacted him by phone and he told her he was on his way.

Little did anyone realize at that moment that he was on his way somewhere other than the courthouse.

After waiting about 40 minutes, Ford accepted the jury verdicts and issued a warrant for Ermakov's arrest. He sentenced him in absentia a month later.

Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh said authorities learned that on the day of the conviction Ermakov flew from Indianapolis to Newark to New York to Amsterdam.

Lozar said that as far as he knows, Ermakov never filed any appeal in his criminal case.

"He fled the country, avoided his sentence and has been hiding overseas since. It's unfortunate he's even allowed to ask for a pardon without showing even some level of responsibility for his actions," Lozar said.

Brett Olmstead of Beckett & Webber, the Urbana law firm that represented Ermakov, said lawyers there haven't had contact with Ermakov since he took off.

"I suppose technically our representation ended at sentencing," he said, confirming that no one from his firm filed any post-trial motions.