Fugitive schools chief headed to prison

DANVILLE, Ill. — A former Illinois school superintendent convicted of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy is headed to prison after nearly 20 years on the run.

At a court appearance in Vermilion County on Wednesday, 60-year-old Dennis Catron waived his right to a hearing he was entitled to because he was convicted in absentia.

Sheriff Pat Hartshorn told the (Champaign) News-Gazette that the department is arranging to deliver Catron to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The former Hoopeston alderman and superintendent of the Ludlow School District was arrested outside his Bangkok home last month.

Catron was first arrested in 1991. He jumped bond after that arrest. In July 1991, he turned himself in, posted $5,000 bond and fled again.

Authorities believe he’s been in Thailand since he disappeared in 1992.