Wanted by the FBI: Izmir Ali Koch

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Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of an Ohio man convicted of a hate crime.

Izmir Ali Koch was indicted for failure to self-surrender to a designated prison to carry out his sentence.

Special Agent Michael Reigle says Koch injured a man he believed to be Jewish outside of a Cincinnati restaurant in February 2017.

Michael Reigle: The investigation led to identifying Izmir Koch as the man that made the anti-Semitic statements and then threw a punch that hit the victim in the back of the head and drove him to the ground. And then, Mr. Koch continued to participate in the assault.

Halpern: Koch is an Ahiska Turk who came to the United States as a refugee from southern Russia.

For those reasons, Reigle says Koch may be evading law enforcement in Russian or Turkish communities.

Reigle: Mr. Koch grew up speaking Russian, and he also speaks a dialect of Turkish. He also speaks English.

Halpern: Koch is familiar with the trucking industry and may be working as a truck driver or dispatcher.

If you have any information about Koch’s whereabouts, dial 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.fbi.gov.

With Wanted by the FBI, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.