THIS SUMMER, FORMER Uni assistant track and cross country coach Yuri Ermakov was convicted of one count of criminal sexual assault and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in a case that involved his conduct with several students.

Troy Lozar, who prosecuted Yuri Ermakov, graduated from Uni in 1990.
Gargoyle photo by Shivani Khanna

The 25-year-old Ermakov, who coached at Uni High from August 2004 to March 2006, fled Champaign-Urbana shortly before the verdict was announced on July 12.

He is believed to have returned to his native Russia. On Aug. 20, Ermakov was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

While Ermakov's trial, conviction, and escape received major publicity, one aspect of the case went little noticed: the Uni connection between the prosecutor and one of Ermakov's defense attorneys.

FOR THE PROSECUTION

The senior assistant state’s attorney assigned to the case was Troy Lozar, a 1990 Uni alum.

Lozar graduated from Uni and went on to complete his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois.

He chose to become a prosecutor because he feels that prosecutors are able to help people, and they have a great deal of discretion in how they choose to do this.

"A prosecutor in theory is someone who works for the people in general," Lozar said. "We don’t represent a specific person. We represent the interests of society at large.

"When we have probable cause that a crime has been committed, we’re supposed to charge whatever crime is appropriate and seek justice. Now that doesn’t always mean getting a conviction; it means finding a way to do whatever is appropriate for whatever event happened.”

Lozar believes that the sentence Ermakov received was reasonable.

“Ermakov did not do himself any favors by deciding to run away, in my opinion, because if there’s one thing that bears very strongly with a judge, it's deciding whether or not somebody is going to be responsible," said Lozar.

"The judge probably thought that he wasn’t going be responsible and he wasn’t going to take any kind of accountability whatsoever."

Elisabeth Pollock, who defended Yuri Ermakov, graduated from Uni in 1999.
Photo courtesy Elisabeth Pollock

FOR THE DEFENSE

Elisabeth Pollock, a 1999 Uni alum, was part of the defense counsel for Ermakov.

“I’ve always felt that certain people were deprived of good representation because they didn’t have any money,” explained Pollock, who attended Lawrence University in Wisconsin as an undergraduate and earned her law degree at the U of I.

Her desire to represent the underrepresented is why she chose to become a public defense lawyer.

“I started off wanting to be a public defender because I thought that by working for the public defenders office I would be able to help some such people who had a lack of means for whatever reason," she said.

"I thought that they were entitled to just as good representation as people with money. Therefore, I thought I was going to be that representation for them."

As a defense attorney she attempts to get her client the best possible result even if that means accepting a plea bargain.

"A lot of criminal attorneys don’t end up going to trial," explained Pollock. "It’s not like 'Law and Order' — there is hardly ever a trial in the criminal system because the case load is so heavy, so that a prosecutor will often try to plea bargain a person out.

"If the plea bargain is best course of action for your client, then that’s what you try to get them. But ultimately it's their decision about whether or not they want to go to trial, and if they do elect to go forward to trial then you do try to give them the best representation possible."

Pollock thinks Ermakov's conviction was unreasonable. And, in fact, Ermakov was found not guilty of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

“I don’t think that he committed the conduct that he was accused of, so in my mind whenever you are convicted for something that you did not do it, is not reasonable thing,” Pollock maintained.

THE UNI HERITAGE

The two opposing lawyers were actually unaware of each other’s high school background for much of the case and had very little contact with each other.

"I actually didn’t find out that he was a Uni alum until the day of the trial," Pollock said. "We were just joking around and I think I must have said ‘Hi’ to Doug [track and cross country head coach Doug Mynatt] or Sally [Athletic Director Sally Walker], and he asked me where I had gone to school and I told him, and he had apparently gone there [Uni] as well. It was just a funny little side story. It didn’t really matter in end and it didn’t affect me, but it was interesting."

Both Pollock and Lozar were unhappy to hear that such a case had involved Uni but were able to set aside their personal claims to the Uni community to focus on their professional obligations.

"I didn’t want people I knew at Uni and my connections to Uni to affect the case," said Pollock. "But as I worked on the case and as I talked with people, I realized that I had a job to do, and everybody did their job in the manner that was to be expected, and there was no conflict or bad feeling between me and Uni people at all."

Lozar also felt feelings of disappointment and concern for the Uni community.

"I think Uni is a great place and I was sorry to hear that it happened here, but it’s the kind of offense that could have happened at any place," Lozar said. "There was nothing particular about Uni that made it particularly susceptible to Mr. Ermakov or vice versa. It’s unfortunate, but I was happy to see that the administration here did really well when they found out something bad was going on. They acted appropriately, they acted immediately, and they did just about everything they could."

Lozar and Pollock enjoyed their experiences at Uni tremendously for a variety of reasons, and they have been able to benefit from their time spent at Uni.

"Going to school in a place where there is a small student-teacher ratio was a fantastic experience," said Pollock, who was a star volleyball and basketball player who continued with volleyball in college. "You get to know everybody a lot better than you would at a bigger school; you get to have more contact with your teachers, and you get to be challenged more at an individual level. Having such a rigorous academic curriculum and playing sports really prepared you to do well in college whether you did sports or not."

Lozar agreed that Uni is a unique place and the school provides a valuable learning experience that should be fully taken advantage of.

“Uni was — and remains — one of the greatest institutions I've had the luck to be associated with," he said. "It's the only school I know of that actually empowers students to learn by exercising their own initiative."

He continued: "There are a lot of good memories — and a few I could stand to forget — but first and foremost Uni encouraged independent thought. Uni gave its students the freedom to explore their interests, and they could always get support from the faculty. The thing I liked most, though, was if someone got a crazy idea about something they wanted to do, they were almost never just told 'no'; they could usually find a way to make it happen. It was just a fantastic learning environment."

THE FUTILITY OF RUNNING AWAY

Concerning Ermakov, officials now believe he is residing in Russia, a nonextraditing country. The judge issued a warrant for his arrest when he failed to show up for his conviction. That warrant will be outstanding indefinitely.

Lozar defined extradition relationships between nations as “one where if we have somebody who goes to their country or they have somebody who goes to our country and that person is being convicted or sought for a criminal offense, then that country will return them.”

The United States and Russia do not have an extradition agreement. Therefore, bringing Ermakov back may prove difficult. The FBI has taken over the investigation at this point.

Ermakov’s decision to flee the country leaves him with few options in terms of travel and lifestyle.

"He’s basically in a position where he’s going have to stay in a nonextraditing country for the rest of his life until he decides to take responsibility and come back voluntarily or until he gets picked up trying to go through a different country," said Lozar.

“His travel is going to be limited until he decides to take responsibility, and he’s going to have general problems if he does travel to an extraditing country," continued Lozar. "The way technology is advancing and the way that international agreements are continuing, it’s going to be harder and harder for him to avoid responsibility."