Brother of man who fled hate crime sentence charged

CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio man who authorities say helped his brother flee the country instead of reporting to prison for a federal hate crime conviction faces his own criminal charges.

Thirty-year-old Baris Koch, of Dayton, pleaded not guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court to misprision of a felony and false statements.

Prosecutors say Koch gave 34-year-old Izmir Koch his passport and a duplicate Ohio driver’s license to help Izmir Koch flee to Russia instead of reporting to prison in mid-August.

Izmir Koch was sentenced in July to 30 months in prison for attacking a man who’d identified himself as Jewish outside a Cincinnati restaurant. Koch was accused of shouting that he wanted to kill “all of the Jews” during the 2017 attack.

Messages seeking comment were left Saturday with Baris Koch’s attorney.