Huber Heights Man Indicted for Fleeing Prior to Serving Prison Sentence

CINCINNATI – A federal grand jury has charged a Huber Heights man for failing to appear with the Bureau of Prisons to begin his 30-month prison sentence for beating a man he believed to be Jewish outside of a Cincinnati restaurant in February 2017.

Izmir Koch, 34, was sentenced in July and ordered by the court to self-surrender at a federal correctional institute on August 16.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Todd A. Wickerham, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Cincinnati Division announced the new charge.

According to the indictment, Koch had been released while awaiting surrender for service of sentence, and directed by the Court to surrender to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Correctional Institute Gilmer in the Northern District of West Virginia. It is alleged that Koch knowingly and willfully failed to self-surrender.

Koch was convicted after a trial in December 2018 of one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act and one count of making a false statement to the FBI. 

In February 2017, the Defendant and his companions were heard yelling “I want to kill all of the Jews” and “I want to stab the Jews” outside a Cincinnati restaurant. The victim represented to Koch that he was Jewish, after which Koch began punching and kicking him. A number of other people joined in the assault. The victim was left with a broken facial bone and bruised ribs. The victim was not in fact Jewish, but was with friends and family members who were. 

Koch faces an additional prison sentence of up to five years for failing to appear.

Koch’s initial prosecution was investigated by the Cincinnati Division of the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Megan Gaffney and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Rossi of the Southern District of Ohio, and Trial Attorney Dana Mulhauser of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. SAUSA Rossi and Trial Attorney Mulhauser are also handling Koch’s new charge.

An indictment merely contains allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

If you have any information on Koch’s whereabouts, please contact the FBI at (513) 421-4310.

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