URBANA – A former University Laboratory High School coach who's been at large for three years since being convicted of a sex crime involving a student apparently intends to turn himself in to Champaign County authorities.

Steve Richards, the Chicago attorney representing Yuri Ermakov, 28, told Champaign County Judge Jeff Ford in court Thursday morning that Ermakov will return to the United States Wednesday.

It's believed that Ermakov has been in Russia since August 2007, having left the Urbana courthouse while a jury was deliberating his fate on a number of charges stemming from conduct that occurred in the fall of 2005 and the winter of 2006 with female students at Uni High, where Ermakov was employed as an assistant track coach.

In July 2007 a jury convicted him of criminal sexual assault for contact with a then 15-year-old girl and contributing to the delinquency of a minor for giving alcohol to two 16-year-old girls. He was acquitted of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

A month later, Ford sentenced Ermakov in his absence to 12 years in prison, saying that Ermakov had abused his position of trust.

"He was able to put himself in the middle of their group. The fox got into the henhouse and he was able to say 'I was one of you,'" Ford said at the time of sentence.

Assistant State's Attorney Troy Lozar declined to talk about the case until Ermakov is back in the custody of Illinois authorities. Richards could not be reached for comment.

However, court records indicate that Lozar told Ford he did not intend to file any charges connected to Ermakov's flight.

Ermakov was still free on bond at the time he left the area, so the most serious charge he would likely face anyway would be a violation of bail bond. He had never been asked to surrender his passport, having made all his court appearances in the year leading up to his trial.

Ermakov, who lived on Colorado Avenue in Urbana with his parents, had been present for his trial but disappeared when the jury retired to deliberate.

The court record indicates that Lozar and Richards told Ford on Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the University of Illinois Police Department have been notified of Ermakov's intent to return and are expected to be waiting for his plane at O'Hare Airport in Chicago Wednesday.

UI police Lt. Roy Acree said it's his understanding that the FBI has been negotiating with either Ermakov or his mother about his return. He didn't know if Ermakov would be accompanied by anyone.

"The FBI has been doing all the negotiations involving his return," said Acree, who added he didn't know why Ermakov decided to return to the U.S. but added he hopes he actually carries through.

UI Detective Rob Murphy will be going to Chicago with an FBI agent to meet Ermakov. Murphy assisted in the investigation, which began March 10, 2006, the day a student gave an assistant principal a letter about Ermakov. He was fired the same day.

Ford scheduled a court hearing for Thursday, at which time Ford is expected to order Ermakov to begin serving his prison sentence. Richards has indicated he will be filing a post-conviction petition on Ermakov's behalf.