In August, a middle school teacher fled to Europe just days before he was charged in Ingleside, Ill., with child molestation. In September, authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina arrested him and are now holding him while he awaits extradition to the US. And this week, the Gavin School District 37 board took action to fire him.
Michael Vucic (from Lake County Sheriff’s Office)
Michael R Vucic, 41, is being held in Bosnia-Herzegovina on a warrant issued in Lake County, Ill., charging him with five counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and five counts of criminal sexual assault, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“We were shocked and saddened by these allegations. The safety and well-being of our students is always the highest priority,” the district wrote in a statement to the community. “Working with law enforcement, we took immediate action to help ensure Mr Vucic would be prohibited from having contact with Gavin students and all other minors under the age of 18.”
He stands accused of having inappropriate sexual contact multiple times with a girl under the age of 13 in 2012. The school district says it has been cooperating with the police since learning of the ongoing investigation in late August.
In addition to suspending Mr Vucic without pay, a move intended to be a prelude to full dismissal, the school board also suspended two other teachers without pay who, according to police, should have suspected abuse but failed to report it. Two other teachers were also placed on administrative leave and a third resigned in the wake of the criminal investigation, the Daily Herald reported.
Mr Vucic was a middle school social studies teacher in the district’s only middle school. The minor female involved in this case was a former student at the middle school, the district said, but no further statements were issued.
