CINCINNATI, OH – A young man killed by an Uzbek truck driver earlier this year in , along with several instances of illegal immigrant truck drivers involved in fatal crashes, has sparked a larger conversation in southwest Ohio about fraud, crime, immigration and how gaps in trucking industry oversight are putting Americans at risk.
Tobias “Toby” Forsythe, a 21-year-old goalkeeper from Ohio on the University of Massachusetts Lowell mens soccer team, was killed July 5 when authorities say a semi-truck driven by 42-year-old Uzbek national Bekhzod Asrarov, who entered the country under the administration’s diversity visa lottery program, rear-ended Forsythes Honda Accord on Interstate 71 in Madison County, Ohio.
It was later determined, according to court documents, that Asrarov could not speak or understand English well enough to communicate with responding state troopers without the use of Google Translate, despite holding an Ohio commercial drivers license, and that he allegedly removed a dashboard camera from his truck after the fatal crash in an effort to conceal or destroy evidence.
“We cannot let truckers like Asrarov, who cant read our road signs or speak to law enforcement, drive 80,000-pound rigs on Americas highways,” Transportation Secretary Sean posted on X after the crash.
In southwest Ohio, a researcher known as Nodawolf has been sounding the alarm to his growing follower count about a vast network of trucking companies, many of them owned or operated by Uzbek nationals, that have popped up in communities like Loveland, Middletown, and Maineville, where Asrarov resides, in recent years and could be contributing to the unsafe practices that took the life of Forsythe, and many others across the country.
Nodawolf, who Fox News Digital granted anonymity due to the death threats hes received from his online reporting, said his research has focused on what he describes as an interconnected network of Uzbek-linked trucking companies in southwest Ohio, including companies that have donated money toward construction of a local Islamic center, according to the center’s own website.Â
“All of them have English violations and have manipulated ELDs,” Nodawolf said, referring to electronic logging devices that track a truckers driving hours and are intended to enforce federal limits on how long drivers can stay behind the wheel.
The Islamic Center, located in Maineville, told Fox News Digital that a “charitable contribution or participation in a community fundraising activity, by itself, should not be interpreted as evidence of an ownership, employment, contractual, commercial, or other business relationship with the Islamic Center or its leadership.”
A Fox News Digital review identified hundreds of trucking companies and other trucking entities registered in Maineville and surrounding southwest Ohio communities, including dozens that were registered in recent years. A separate review of companies identified as connected to the local Uzbek community found serious FMCSA safety violations, including drivers cited for failing English-proficiency requirements and other federal trucking violations.
