SIU-Edwardsville Dean is Wanted Man in Homeland

Students at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville may not realize there's a big-name fugitive on campus.

Aldemaro Romero is the school's dean of arts and sciences, son of a famous Venezuelan musician, and a wanted man in his homeland.

The Venezuelan government has accused him of "treason to the motherland." That happened almost 20 years ago when he was working as a scientist and denounced Venezuelan fishermen for illegally killing dolphins for shark bait.

Romero fled to the United States and says it would be "suicidal" to go back.

He's been a dean at SIU in Edwardsville since 2009.

Romero recently donated 50,000 resource materials to the university archives. These include research notes, audiotapes of whale sounds and FBI reports on his run-in with Venezuelan authorities.

(Photo courtesy of Southern Illinois University)