Blaine man facing hate crime charge following December incident at downtown Bellingham bar
Editor’s note (Nov. 6, 2025): Mr. Mikoch pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor, and the hate crime charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement on Oct. 26, 2025. The original article appears below.
A Blaine man is facing hate-crime and assault charges in connection with an attack on a gay man outside a downtown Bellingham bar in late December.
Trevor R. Mikoch, 25, is accused of attacking a 23-year-old Lynden man early Dec. 21 at a bar near the corner of State and Holly Streets, Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald.
In an arraignment hearing Friday morning, Whatcom County Superior Court Commissioner Dan McGreevy ordered Mikoch to stand trial on the charges, which include assault in the commission of a hate crime and fourth-degree assault, according to online court records.
Mikoch pleaded not guilty and a trial date was set for March 17. He faces five years in prison on the hate crime charge, which is a class C felony.
Murphy said the victim was attacked as he tried to ease a confrontation at the bar, described in court documents as The Orion.
“(The victim) reported to officers he was in the bar with his boyfriend playing pool when he heard Mikoch using racial slurs toward another patron and telling other bar patrons he wanted to fight that person. (The victim) heard the racial slurs and went to intervene and de-escalate the situation with Mikoch and the other patron,” Murphy said in an email.
Instead of backing off, Mikoch turned his rage against the victim, punching him and trying to gouge his eyes out, Murphy said.
“Mikoch called (the victim) a homosexual slur and began punching (the victim) in the face. Mikoch also grabbed (the victim’s) face and tried to gouge out (the victim’s) eye. (The victim) had to bite Mikoch’s finger in order for him to stop the eye gouging attempt,” Murphy said.
Police got a description of Mikoch’s car and arrested him as he left downtown, Murphy said.
He is free after posting $1,500 bail on Dec. 23.
According to online court records, Mikoch was sentenced to two years of “community custody” in 2017 as part of a deal to avoid prison after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine and alprazolam with the intent to distribute. He was sentenced to three months in Whatcom County Jail in 2017 after pleading guilty to assaulting a law enforcement officer.
In a police report that was submitted as part of charging documents Friday, Officer Matthew Aboulfadl said that four witnesses to the December attack told him that Mikoch was the aggressor and that Mikoch used racial and homophobic slurs during the incident.
A supervisor, Cpl. Patrick Peña, interviewed the victim separately, and determined the victim’s statement agreed with the four witnesses’ description of the incident.
In a supporting court document, Peña said that Mikoch continued to make homophobic statements as he was being booked at the Whatcom County Jail.
Peña said in his report that the victim suffered injuries consistent with the attack that he and the witnesses described, including facial scratches and a bloody lip.
The victim did not ask for medical attention at the scene, Murphy said.
This story was originally published January 6, 2025 at 1:08 PM.
